uh, your merely scratching the fleas ... there is a bigger problem, which affects licensed users (from other thread on the same issue):
Counterfeit copies of XP have been sold from all sorts of retailers.
Yah sure, peeps knowingly using the software illegally deserve no support, HOWEVER, that is not the concerns (or at the least shouldn't be). The other concern is what MS is doing in you system and what information, aside from MS product key codes and version numbers, they are gathering.
Someone did not read about the other, more important, concerns.
Source = The Globe and Mail article '
Bill Gates will be frisking you with a simple point and click ':
The company will scan machines for a variety of information, including product keys or software authorization codes, operating-system version and details on the flow of data between the operating system and other hardware, such as printers.
I wonder how many spyware programs will catch that?