However, to me bloatware is any additional program or option that comes with the program that is not are not part of the main function of the program regardless of whether you choose to install the additional program or use the feature or not. While one could make a good argument that credit alert updates and information are part of Internet Security it seems to me to be a bit of a stretch. Your credit can be messed up by many ways that have nothing to do with the Internet, e.g. stolen mail, creditor error, not paying bills when due or at all, credit company screw up with your database, erroneously reported information to credit companies and so on. So therefore, I consider the credit alert option to be bloatware.
I understand your point, though I'd say the question is - what is the main function of the program? I would say you may be putting too much stress on the word "Internet", while some may incline more towards the word "Security" (which is certainly a wide and vague term, I agree).
The Credit Monitor, or at least the premium version, is not just about the credit score - but about many other things (which again don't need to be directly connected to the Internet). It may help you to discover identity thefts - and the big benefit of the "Internet" adjective here is the speed of the discovery (which can certainly help to minimize the damage).
Anyway, today's malware is not about spreading the author's creation for fun anymore, the aim of malware is to steal your money, your data, and possibly your identify (based on the stolen data). Since avast! already tries to protect you against those malicious computer programs, and since it also offers SafeZone to have some protection even in case the first level of protection failed and some malware got in... I don't see it as that a stretch to offer some kind of protection for the second-level failure as well. Sure, your identity may be stolen in other ways, stealing your documents or paper mail... but similarly your computer may be infected with malware by somebody breaking into your house, taking the hard disk out of your computer, planting malicious files there and putting it back (possibly disabling the security software simultaneously, which could hardly do anything against it if not running). So I wouldn't really draw such a thick line between the real and virtual world - especially since those two are getting closer and closer, and the identity theft via "Internet" is likely to increase, not the opposite.
OK, that's most likely the argument you were talking about. I understand that you might see it as a bit of a stretch, but I really don't think it's that a stretch to deserve the word "bloatware"... I mean, come on, it's not a tic-tac-toe or a family tree creator