Is there a way to browse the Civilization V mod hub without activating the game?

By default the mod hub is located at this gamespy address, which is a web service, so not browseable using just a browser. Is there a service available somewhere that will allow me to browse the mods directory, preferably with sorting capabilities?

Well, I guess you already know this but you can use a SOAP client to view the data.. for example: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/206154/whats-the-best-soap-client-library-for-python-and-where-is-the-documentation-fo

Using SUDS:

>>> from suds.client import Client
>>> url = 'http://civ5.sake.gamespy.com/SakeStorageServer/FiraxisServices.asmx?WSDL'
>>> c = Client(url)
>>> s = c.factory.create("ArrayOfString")
>>> s.string = ["recordid", "catName", "ParentId"]
>>> r = c.service.SearchForRecords(2863, "Content_ModInfo_Categories", s, None, None, 0, 1024, None, 0, None, False)
>>> print r

You will now see all the categories..

>>> s.string= ["recordid","ModID","ModVersion","ModTitle","ModTeaser","ModDescription","Downloads","num_ratings","DateUploaded","DownloadURL","FileName"]
>>> r = c.service.SearchForRecords(2863, "Content_ModInfo_LatestVersion", s, None, None, 0, 10, None, 0, None, False)
>>> print r

Now just for someone to implement it in a webapplication :)

As of version 1.0.1.674, mods are now published on the Steam Workshop for Civilization V, which is available for browsing outside the game.