[tetraodonpuffer]

I am not really sure why networks would have to distribute a list of locations: the default for connecting is simply 'do not autoconnect or look for any network I have not already connected previously in this location'.

If the user does not want to incur the GPS battery impact triangulating with cell towers already should give you enough location information not to look for your home network at work, or the network you saw in Spain last month when you are in the Netherlands.

And finally obviously everything can be spoofed, however I don't think it's reason enough not to have a minimal set of protections: the user can decide how much battery to dedicate to the task (i.e. no checking, cell tower checking, gps checking in increasing order of impact)