Is Realplayer a security risk?

Hi: I installed Realplayer 8. for Linux, on my SuSE 7.1 box a while back. I installed it with YAST1 and it works perfectly. I heard that Realplayer is a web spider of sorts. That is, it streams info about your box back to Real.com. Is this true? Also if I have all the updates installed on my box do they inhibit RealPlayer from being a Security risk? -- Cheers, Jonathan