A better response to these laws would be that the device should just stop working if the settings I have selected conflict with local law. The cell towers are free to refuse to allow my phone to connect. They should send some sort of message to me to tell me what I'd need to do in order to comply with local law and be allowed on the network.

But of course, that wouldn't be convenient, and a lot of people would be confused, and that would generate costly support calls, so they'd rather just violate the sanctity of the things we apparently don't really own and put intrusive hooks into "our" hardware and software.

In the case of this particular requirement -- that wireless alerts be enabled -- I would almost certainly just enable them and go about my day. But reaching into my device and changing things without my consent crosses a line.