"Required" is a very, very big word. Please cite the US law or statute that REQUIRES this feature. How about you get down off the false high horse you seem to be on and join reality. This feature is not required it is desired - desired by insiders who believe they are doing what is in the best interest of the masses based on their perception of the cyber threat. If you were half as knowledgeable as you seem to believe, you would know that NOTHING with this feature or anything else you or anyone else in that industry can come up with is going to prevent cyber-attacks. The best you can do is reduce the threat. I have no issue with the feature - the issue is that I, as the purchaser of the product, wish to be able to turn the feature on and off.
It sucks because it is not user configurable.