Sorry about being a guest user. I'm feeling too lazy to create an account right now.
As we've seen with other media industries (e.g. music and movies) the problem goes both ways. When an item becomes too easily distributable, we see extreme levels of piracy. But on the other side, when unlicensed distribution becomes rare, the publishers are more than happy to take additional "bites of the apple" by expecting users to repurchase material whenever circumstances can justify it, such as when new technology no longer supports an old medium (Hi-Def vs. DVD) or new media players are not backward compatible with old DRM codecs (frequently in iPod and Zune development).
There was a reason we rebelled against Vista and Windows 7 having a phone-home feature, (known as the "kill switch"): Amongst others, It is a violation of the personal right to privacy, our protection from search without warrant. Microsoft doesn't have any more right to know your usage patterns than does the NSA. Only the customer base for operating systems is much larger, and is a greater class-action risk than that of Ubisoft's or EA's titles.
In my personal case, though, I'm biased, given an incident a few years ago in which EA customer service refused to replace a CD that was cracked during the packaging or shipping process. Rather than a proper apology and a rapid delivery of a pristine disc, they treated me like a criminal for daring to insist that I get from them a game on intact media, a legitimate CD key notwithstanding.
It was that day, thanks to the obstinance of EA's very own customer service, that I sought out the torrent communities to create my own copy of disc 2 (and NOT 1, 3, 4, 5) of The Sims 2, which EA refused to replace.
I still buy licenses for all my games (music is another matter - if I had the LP of a song, once, I believe I own the license to reacquire it in a current version), but if a game's DRM inconveniences me *in the slightest* I have no qualm with acquiring a means to override it, even if it means acquiring a cracked version of the game for which my license is legit. And those crackers who break the code to allow me to play without CDs, or to remove that infernal Sims mosaic or, heck, allow me to reinstall my game when my activation limit is exceeded, are doing me a just and welcome service.
One last thing. I wonder if those of you apologists for internet-leash play requirements will feel the same way once a company arbitrarily decides to cease installation or play activations. Microsoft is planning on ceasing XP Home Edition activations relatively soon. It'll be interesting to see if you guys feel it is acceptable for any entity to have that power once someone actually uses it to deny you your purchased rights. And, for want of server space if nothing else, they will.