Sorry, I wasn't asking a new question, more just trying to clarify the concerns.
The UPC component looks like it's part of a phone home system, and it's being added as a mandatory piece of the OS.
I'll add an example of a change made to Windows 10 last year, where new installs require using a MS account to complete the install, unless you proactively remove the network before that stage of setup and tell it you don't have internet.
I personally realize that comparing LT to MS is rather insulting, but to newcomers to the LT family, it could be hard to differentiate the behaviour.