It does phone home yes, but people pretend it doesn't and only Windows is evil when it does so. At least it doesn't have ads.
Not yet. But rest assured, they are just getting started. I know of one theory that suggests ATT was really just Apple preparing to launch its own Ads network.
I remember some problem with programs hanging and/or slow to start because the phoning home functionality was having issues.
edit: yep, it does https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/391379/does-macos-...