The supervisor who spoke with me was not sure how this software ended up in the new laptop thus put me on hold. He confirmed that yes, Samsung did knowingly put this software on the laptop to, as he put it, "monitor the performance of the machine and to find out how it is being used."[networkworld.com]

It's amazing that Samsung, or anyone, would take this kind of risk with their own reputation ...

(H/T Instapundit)

Update: Fortunately the answer appears to be no.[nakedsecurity.sophos.com]