<grouch>
Maybe ISPs and carriers can file a class action suit against these guys for
something. I wanted to run a network, not manage someone else's distributed
server farm.
</grouch>
The utilization of your network is something that you should address in your AUP. If your clients accepting the license agreement on their network/peer-to-peer software interferes with the operation of your facility or bandwidth then perhaps it's time to sit down at the drawing board again.
You aren't maintaining anybodies distributed server farm. You're maintaining the infrastructure that your clients pay you to use, and they're allowing this application to function in the manner described in plain english within the license agreement.
CBoyd@apogeetelecom.com wrote:
Of course, there IS the fact that under UCITA, it appears to be legal to have
an EULA that has unreasonable terms that you can't read until after you've
agreed to the EULA - or that have implications that the end user doesn't
fully understand.
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/02/02/11/020211opfoster.xml
Did you know that you gave Microsoft the right to download stuff onto
your computer that would (for instance) intentionally disable your
Netscape browser, or other third-party software?
(And yes, I *know* Microsoft says "you can turn off 'auto update'" and
that they will warn you before installing anything - the point is that
once you've accepted the terms, they're not *obligated* to let your turn
auto-update off or tell you they're updating anything....)
So - if you've agreed to this, Microsoft is *allowed* to download a
distributed computing client to your system the next time you connect.
All your users that installed the software *did* agree to this, right?
I mean - if they didn't, they're using the Microsoft product illegally. 
And I wanted to download files, but certainly did not want to unwittingly
support a CDN.
Maybe everyone will simply cease using the software. It certainly
would set a nice example for other corporations implementing spyware, and
other unsavory "features".
Regards,
James