Today Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. Everybody wants it, but even Microsoft itself is limiting downloads to 2.5 million a day. So here’s another attempt at demonstrating–to Congress, the press, and the public at large–the usefulness of p2p networks for providing a public service. You can download SP2 via bittorrent here:
We’re using bittorrent to distribute the file that nearly every computer user in the world wants. The faster this gets out, the more secure everyones’ computers will be. Like p2pcongress.org (see the previous post below) this project shows how filesharing technlogy gives people without budgets or huge server space the power to solve problems themselves, without waiting for the government or some corporation to do it for them. Demonstrations like these are vitally necessary, since Congress is just now considering legislation that would make p2p networks (and many other innovations) illegal– before they even come into their own.
Of course, our primary interest at Downhill Battle is in how we can use technology like this as a tool to change our music culture. But because an intense lobbying effort by the RIAA has completely blinded most legislators (and much of the press) to the immense public value of p2p networks as a music library (bigger than any ever built), we need to get out ahead of the lobbyists and demonstrate the usefulness of p2p in areas not yet covered by the RIAA’s propaganda blitz.
Since we’re fervent advocates of open source software, sp2torrent.com wouldn’t be complete with a link to Knoppix, the zero-commitment linux live CD. Download it today.
This project comes on the heels of P2PCongress.org a demonstration of how p2p networks can increase public participation in the political process. That site provided full video of the INDUCE Act hearings using bittorrent–video that was not available anywhere else.
