For now, it appears EA will be placing all of its eggs in the always-online basket, and while this makes sense to some degree (tie-ins almost always do, to some degree) Idoubtitwill pan out quite the way the publisher has in mind.
It would be a good thing if there were legislation to make such transparency required and to penalize online companies that don't honor "Do Not Track" buttons on Web browsers, but Idoubt we will get it from this Congress.