Privacy Versus MMORPG security

Just spotted this interesting nugget of comment and "analysis" from someone who has been tinkering with WoW:

http://www.rootkit.com/blog.php?newsid=358

His comments are still in need of verification from other technical wizards, but the author suggests that 4.5 million copies of World of Warcraft contains spyware, which all users agree to install via the EULA.

Certainly the author doesn't say the information gathered by the Blizzard installed software is communicating with Blizzard, questionable if the software in question is spyware therefor, but he does have convincing proof that the little "security" programme is pretty invasive at the client side.

Certainly, as mentioned in earlier posts, there is a big debate about the affect of bots, macroers and other general cheaters, but does that warrant having a third party sniffing around your PC to see what other "nasties" it can pick up running in the background while you are playing a game?

There could be quite a nasty backlash against Blizzard if anything more sinister is found and this news travels past the blogosphere.