I agree with the OP on this one. Impulse really is unnecessary, and I find it more than a little intrusive. It also isn't very reliable - I had a ton of trouble with it because of some e-mail address not matching up or other. Every single time I have attempted to update Gal Civ 2, or download expansions, something has screwed up - whether its serial numbers, e-mails, registrations, or a ton of other odds and ends. It is for this reason I am always baffled by the claims this game has good support. Whether the updates are worth having or not, the hoop-jumping required is ridiculous, and the execution insultingly poor.
Very bluntly I find the "Bill of Rights" thing more than a bit hypocritical - Gal Civ 2 and its expansions have been by far the most awkward games I've encountered in recent years for updating, and for installing intrusive secondary garbage on my machine. I'd vote for scrubbing number 10 - I couldn't care less whether I have the disk in the drive when I'm playing, and I've wasted far more time with messed up update programs than I'll spend swapping disks in my life. I therefore suggest substituing the OP's suggestion for number 10, and getting an update button that just updates immediately - there are plenty of games that manage this.