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Do you call Linux allowing you to specify a DNS server as "circumventing how the internet works at a pretty basic level", too?

There's a vast difference between "users can configure it to what they want" and "it's hardcoded and can't be changed".

In both cases the client software ignored the network's settings. It's identical in behavior to the network.

Either that's circumventing how the internet works or it isn't.

Sounds like you agree that it's not, in fact, circumventing how the internet works?

The critical difference is whether it is under control of the user.

That's a critical difference which has nothing to do with "how the internet works".