BUT...bear in mind that not much has changed regarding procedural control in the last...decades.
I think this is the nub of the problem. When the good book of rules were written a direct to finals was possible with a bit of mental artimetic but no where near as easy as it is today.
The GPS approach plates I have seen seem to take the form of a crucafix allowing you to pretty much attack the approach from any direction above MSA then feed into finals.
Alot of these approaches arn't run by controllers but FISO's in class G. The UK is a different ball game because in the UK system the pilot has a choice of service and can opt out of being controlled and just take information.
To be honest I just wish it would be stated yes or no you can't.
Commercially the company will want you to save the 10mins.
And while there is room for interpretation there will always be differences in opinion.
I can't see any major safety issues unless the procedure creates the situation of an unstable approach having to dive down from MSA.
Keep in mind that the only instance where a pilot is allowed to override contoller instructions is on a TCAS resolution
Sorry but we are going to have to disagree on that. I will refuse any instruction which I deem will put my aircraft in danger from either a performance point of view or risk of CFIT or collision. And see and avoid over rules everything even in Class A. If a pilot gets a EGPWS alarm the only direction they will be going is up.
I have had to do it a couple of times in a procedural enviroment when the controller has screwed up there T level and decended us on a FL with an aircraft below on QNH and given us a 100ft seperation if I had complided with thier instruction.