But yet they said yes... I wonder if I call them up and ask, "hey, Samsung CS, did you guys install a flurb-yulb-gumbler on my new laptop?", will they say, "yes, we use those to violate your privacy."

It was still incredibly disingenuous and dishonest. There is no way any person of reasonable IT knowledge would go to tech support for information on engineering decisions. He was fishing for confirmation and he got it - I have strong doubts about Mr. Hasan's intentions when he contacted support.