Though I've never read a white paper, the general principle is sound. Give your product 0 barriers to entry, then ask for people to register, rather than asking upfront.
It was the specific calls-to-action that grabbed me; "circulate this to your peers" --- I've written probably close to 100 white papers now for various companies, and never thought to include that!
I wrote a lot of white papers before I thought of it. It's so obvious, but I missed it for a long time. I "discovered" it accidentally while profiling white paper readers. I wrote all the things I'd like them to do after reading. Having them give the white papers to others was in the top two - calling the author was #1. It seemed like an easy request...the rest, as they say, is history :-)