[wp-hackers] stop HTTP requests made behind one's back

[jidanni at jidanni.org]

HOW ODD, I said to myself, WordPress seems to make a lot of outbound
HTTP requests, from the minute you first install it.

Why can't there at least be a checkbox provided to make WordPress act
like MediaWiki: just respond to incoming HTTP requests.

An RSS reader bundled right into the Dashboard? How kind, but I have
my own. OK, I disabled it along with pings, etc.

cron update_core, update_plugins, update_themes? Again how thoughtful,
however there should be a way to not trust, and turn off such "beacons".

How is one to install WordPress on a military or intranet where making
HTTP requests to the Internet is not allowed?

Just rip up wp-includes/http.php? That won't stop other parts of the
code from then futilely hammering it even more.