Comment 8 for bug 84453

I do not agree with this. The package description clearly states:

 "You will need an Internet connection to download these fonts if you
 don't already have them."

Also, the debconf templates include this information and the ability to abort:

 "If you haven't yet downloaded these fonts, leave this blank and the fonts
 will be downloaded for you. Approximately 4 MB will need to be downloaded.

 If you are not connected to the internet or do not wish to download these
 fonts now, enter "none" to abort."

About the LAN-installation: there is in fact a good way to avoid that, and that is to specify a directory where the fonts can be found when presented with the msttcorefonts/dldir debconf question. This is intended exactly for such purposes.

The uninstallation problem has meanwhile been fixed.

Concluding, I don't think there's anything we can fix here.