COPYCENSE

"Peer-to-peer advocacy group Downhill Battle has made a copy of Microsoft’s Windows XP Service Pack 2 available at a site called SP2torrent.com through the BitTorrent file-sharing system.

"’Now is a crucial time to demonstrate ways that peer-to-peer can be useful,’ according to co-founder Nicholas Reville. ‘We are facing a situation where Congress is seriously considering outlawing peer-to-peer for all intents and purposes.’

"Reville was referring to the Induce Act, a bill before Congress that says ‘whoever intentionally induces any violation’ of copyright law is liable for that infraction.  Downhill Battle also used peer-to-peer technology to distribute video of the congressional hearings on the Induce Act."

Ina Fried. Windows Update Hits File-Sharing Networks. News.com. Aug. 10, 2004.

See also Alfred Hermida. File-Sharers Offer Windows Update. BBCNews. Aug. 10, 2004.

UPDATE: Ina Fried. Group Cites Microsoft Tthreat, Says No SP2 Over P2P. News.com. Aug. 13, 2004. (Downhill Battle has stopped distributing Microsoft’s Windows XP Service Pack 2 update following a DMCA threat from the software maker.)