Automatic Downloads Sign In Won't Leave Me Alone; Why?

Every time I open iTunes, Apple tries to force me to "sign in" to enable "automatic downloads". I refuse. I keep unchecking the options from Preferences under Store, but iTunes resets it to its "checked" configuration -- disregarding my preferences literally. I wish Apple would quit forcing their tracking features on me. I don't want them.

How do I get iTunes to accept the fact that I don't want to sign in every time I open iTunes, that I don't want to use automatic downloads?