Your IP and PC serial don't "personally identify you" but there's nothing to prevent anyone who buys that info to use it to personally identify you. And to what end?
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Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage
is waaaaay more than your IP. That's, like, everything going on your PC.
Bottom line is, no most software doesn't do this - Blizzard runs Warden but they don't sell that info. Windows has the same sort of monitoring but presents an option to turn it off. Firefox or pretty much any other piece of software would have a pretext to do the same - seeing as how EA's argument isn't, "we need this to make the software work" but "we're selling this for cash".
So why should EA have more of a right to farm info to sell than Mozilla which gives their software away?
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There hasn't been any indication that they're going to do that, has there?
Except...what's expressly stated in the EULA.
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I think a lot of the fear-mongering is due to the "we're going to watch your software activity", which isn't anything serious.
Bolded relevant portion for you.
Checking the registry to see what you have installed =/= watching what you have open in Word, Firefox or iTunes
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"You know, these guys have a lot of MP3s... I think we should turn them over to the RIAA!"
It's happened before. Google, "RIAA sued student".
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What people don't think about is all the identifying information that does exist in the world. Like, if you've done any of the following you're just as easily susceptible to identity theft:
* had a bank account
* used a credit/debit card
* had a license (of any type)
* owned a car/house
* attended any school
* been picked up by the cops
* had mail delivered to your house (or anywhere else)
* been to a doctor
* created an account online for a website or video game
* made an online purchase
* used public transit systems since 2002
All it takes is one guy that can jump into a Database, where all of these actions would've stored some information in some way.
It's illegal to cache financial information without explicit permission, and even more illegal to transmit it. It doesn't happen unless you're using your credit card on warez or Russian porn sites or something.
School, arrest, mail, medical and transit history is strictly confidential and proprietary and transmitting that information is a federal offense. Generally speaking, it doesn't happen except in targeted cases (someone's out to get you).
Ironically, even though you're dismissing a legitimate threat, you're entertaining concerns that are wholly paranoid and irrational. That is a paradox typical of paranoia: it becomes impossible to identify legitimate threats because one is inundated by fears that aren't rational.