Your advice makes perfect sense, which is exactly why dumb devices will soon be illegal to own.
Oh, think you'll be smart and just not configure networking to ensure your privacy? Cute, but nice try. They'll soon tie the license and EULA directly to networking, to ensure it is enabled 100% of the time, to all but guarantee the advertising capability behind that marketing-supplemented price tag.
You're right. You don't need any of these features. Then again, you didn't ask for them, which also explains just how much control you have in this situation. Now, or in the future.
Thank you for the advice. Too bad we can't do a damn thing about it.
You could always damage the circuit which does the reporting. This may generate a fault, but since you own the device, and it's your property, an act like removing a bridge jumper or cutting a capacitor on the circuit should suffice.
Or just find out where the IOT connects and disconnect that.