https://www.nrl.navy.mil/itd/chacs/sites/edit-www.nrl.navy.mil.itd.chacs/files/pdfs/14-1231-1559.pdf
The authors haven't pointed to an actual implementation of the protocol and their own is probably closed source. The reason someone hasn't used this idea to actually implement and improve TOR network maybe because TOR is essentially a network of "willful conspirators". They don't need additional motivation. Yet, something like this can definitely be an incentive for lot of people to become TOR servers themselves. If someone starts an Alt-coin project using this idea, it would be a much better use of time than plenty other Proof-of-"Something" ideas. In fact, if the incentive currency is simply bitcoin mili-Sats with integration of LN on such a network, that would be a brilliant project by itself.
How much of it is feasible is for better minds than mine to comment on.
So a practical implementation would be similar to a file sharing or data sharing Peer-to-Peer network, with the difference that you share a portion of your bandwidth and then get rewarded for that with some kind of token?
Would this not favor first world countries with good infrastructure and massive backbones? We already see centralization with Bitcoin, because China monopolized ASIC manufacturing and low cost mining farms.
Indeed. This would make the internet more free and less communists authoritarian. That's the whole point and goal.