You could easily claim that they would prefer that the majority of people find out the hard way. Hence the silent treatment instead of addressing the concerns of... quite a few people.
I know it may sound a bit paranoid, but everyone who's seen the "You wouldn't steal a car" clip on a DVD they've purchased know how absurd anti-piracy schemes can be.
But most importantly - Mass Effect, another EA-published title, uses this activation+online authentication scheme (read Bioware's official FAQ on it:
Mass Effect Community - Mass Effect for PC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)) and "everyone" therefore believes the same will be used for Spore. EDIT: In additon, a couple people over at the US EA forums claim to have run out of SCC activations. If even the SCC actually has activations, what are the chances that Spore won't?