This kind of activation scheme is exactly why I now purchase my games for consoles instead of PC. The only games I really buy on PC now are either games from Stardock Central that have no copy protection, or ones from independent developers who are generally less restrictive and will bump your limit up if you email them.

It really doesn't do much to stop piracy either, the professional pirates will have it worked around in no time, and once one of them works around it, its game over for the protection.

And the really sad part is that you get a better product by pirating it than by buying it due to these idiotic protection schemes.