Counterpoints:

1) My auto insurance is already too expensive. I have zero interest in "oh yeah we had to add to your driver factor because telematics says you exceeded the speed limit 11 times last year :^)". Less tracking is just a bonus.

2) He made no irreversible changes to the vehicle. Just keep the part and plug it back in when you need it for service/inspection or whatever.

3) "Telematics disabled" probably adds to the resale value of the car.

So the authors goal is to reduce his car's ability to transmit his data to Toyota.

His solution: disconnect the cell modem

Your solution: Be single, never drive a car ever, and leave your phone at home.

?????

What are you talking about? People sell used cars with broken stuff all the time. You don't have to tell the buyer that you intentionally broke that feature. The mechanics that I use would all consider this modification entirely reasonable and not say anything about it after you explained yourself.

Also my spouse is just as paranoid as this guy is and when I told her what new vehicles collect she was happy she had an older model car. So this is not really a thing.