"Who says it involves "phoning home"? You can use offline apps, and turn off your internet if you want."

Those are getting fewer and farther between, the new trend is that you have to accept a 40-page license agreement to rent a bike, you get a Fancy pet feeder that doesn't feed your cat when their servers are offline, your Samsung TV adds ads that you cannot turn off, etc.

You own and control nothing despite paying thousands of dollars for it.