It's not so much that M$ has the ability to spy on your computer activity, but if they want to use my data for developing future products, pay me as a market research analyst. My main beef with the whole big brother issue is that M$ _has_ put back doors into the OS specifically for someone to monitor your activity whether it be an individual company or the government. The whole thing is just waiting to be abused by someone for the gain of money.
Is it really anyones business what movie you watch on your computer or how many times you watch that movie? Or how many legal backup copies you make? No it is the whole "all users are criminals" attitude I mainly have an issue with. Check the EULA, M$ retains the right to modify anything on your computer without your prior approval. This includes disabling a feature that you may be abusing or found a work around for. If they feel your copy of CopyDVD is being used inappropriately they retain the right to make it NOT function on your rented copy of Vista. No matter how much you paid for it...