Each of 120 community members belongs to one of three digital-access tiers and sits inside a social network (edges = communication ties, denser within a tier than across tiers). A city rolls out a security policy — e.g. facial-recognition surveillance or a data-sharing consent scheme — and each person's participation level Pi ∈ [0,1] (awareness + ability to take part in shaping the policy) evolves by network diffusion:
dPᵢ/dt = βᵢ·(1−Pᵢ)·Σⱼ wᵢⱼPⱼ/Σⱼwᵢⱼ + τ·cᵢ·(1−Pᵢ) − δ·Pᵢ
βᵢ = tier's base diffusion rate, reduced by the divide-gap slider for Low/Medium tiers
wᵢⱼ = edge weight between i and j (network diffusion term)
τ = policy-transparency slider (direct public-information channel, bypasses the network)
cᵢ = tier's transparency-channel sensitivity (Low/Medium benefit most)
δ = slow forgetting/decay term, kept constant
- Digital divide gap — how much slower the Low-access tier absorbs information through the network, relative to High-access. 0% = everyone diffuses information equally regardless of access; 100% = the Low tier is nearly cut off from peer-to-peer diffusion.
- Policy transparency — a direct, access-independent information channel (public notices, plain-language disclosures) that raises participation for every tier without relying on the social network — this is the main policy lever that can offset the divide.
- Community outreach — adds extra bridging edges between the Low-access cluster and the rest of the network (targeted digital-inclusion programs), so information can reach excluded members through new social ties.
- Equity gap readout is High-tier mean participation minus Low-tier mean participation — the core inequality this simulator visualizes. It only closes when transparency or outreach compensate for a large divide gap.
This is a purely defensive/analytical model of policy communication equity — it contains no attack code, exploit, or intrusion technique. It is meant to make visible how a security or surveillance policy's social rollout can quietly exclude the same groups it is supposed to protect, unless transparency and outreach are designed in from the start.
Chart panel below the network tracks overall / per-tier participation over simulation time, and a compact bar strip shows the current per-tier mean — so the equity gap is visible both spatially (node brightness) and numerically (charts) at once.