appears to be some pilot program with Yahoo where you can elect to make your location publicly available. At least that's my understanding. When I started up my Spot, I realized that the Eagle thing is totally optional and does not get in the way of the Spot. In other words, you can take advantage of the deal and never use the Eagle thing if you so choose.
I have to be honest, I was kind of skeptical at first but figured I give it a try. This deal was posted on the AVriders forum. I basically got the whole shebang for about $150 plus tax.