Microsoft Removes WGA 'Phone Home' Component

Eweek has the story about the updated WGA. I thought it was just because I uninstalled it, that I got the notification, yesterday. :)
Eweek:
Microsoft has removed the controversial "phone home" notifications component from its WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) anti-piracy tool.

The software maker June 27 announced the release of an updated WGA Notifications package that will be delivered to millions of Windows XP users via Automatic Updates with one major change.

In the pilot phase, a PC that had installed WGA Notifications checked a server-side configuration setting upon each login, to determine if WGA Notifications should run or not.

This daily configuration file check has been removed in the updated WGA Notifications package released June 27, according to a Microsoft statement sent to eWEEK.

The company said that the Validation component of the tool will still check periodically to determine whether the version of Windows is genuine.

More info:Microsoft Removes WGA 'Phone Home' Component
--MissM
P.S. Oh yeah! There's a link to a Microsoft KB article, included and when I try to get there, anymore, I get an expired validation for the security AND (this is the part that bugs me the most) I have to login with my passport account?!?!?!?? Has anybody else run into this?? Its wrong to make people sign in to be informed of the flaws of the Operating System...
HMMMPH!