I've been arguing for a long time that the "don't connect it to your network" defence was insufficient because sooner or later these devices will simply start including their own connectivity as well. Various other categories of device, notably cars, already do, and frequently abuse it for tracking purposes.
My take on this is that we should impose the kind of draconian restrictions we have here in the UK on products like cigarettes. You can buy them, age restrictions permitting, but they are legally required to cover a large part of their packaging with prominent disclosures of the harm they cause. If devices with consumer-hostile measures like phone home functionality were similarly required to disclose it, and exactly what it is doing, on their packaging and other promotional materials, average consumers might start asking more questions instead of just the relatively small and so usually insignificant class of techie consumers. If that still didn't produce meaningful competition, outright prohibition by law might be the only solution.
