Is WGA really a spyware program?

How are you Warrens?

I was wondering if you knew much about the Microsoft WGA program. I know there are a lot of people who think this program is spyware. My understanding was that it could be classified under this category because of how Microsoft destributes it as a critical security update on Windows Update. Not to mention the stories I have heard about the tool phoning home to Microsoft on a regular basis. One other strange thing that I have been hearing from my friend about is people going and validating their PC on the Microsoft Download Center to access a downolad. After the download is complete they run an antispyware program and find that the WGA validation tool has caused a Browser Hijack attempt. I do not know if these stories would be good material for the WGA article here on Wikipedia. I am still searching the web to see if I can find evidence to back some of this up. I was also wondering if you had heard any of these strange stories yourself. Please respond on my talk page and tell me what you think.