Even that seems to get periodically re-enabled on my Galaxy S7 without my permission. I reasonably expect that if I launch an app that requires location to get asked for it, but in my experience the system level software is collecting it anyway, perhaps traffic mapping?

Given Samsung, I wouldn't be surprised if that issue was related to their software. There's just so much going on in Android, and so much third party software, that you really can't assume much anymore.

Do you work for Google?

I do and the only time you'll get a straight word from leadership is when Sergey appears on stage drunk (which is often. dude has a problem). The rest are consistently awful.

I'm unemployed.