The video that started this clippy campaign mentioned that. The message is that those sort of transgressions seem so minor compared to what companies bot only do, but get away with now
Clippy was hated at the time, but an annoying useless assistant that doesn't send anything to the Internet, let alone your personal data, seems like a dream now.
Random trivia: The clippy 3D animations were created by Deadpool director Tim Miller (of Blur Studio).