The only reason it didn't happen to your device probably is you didn't have enough free space for the download to be completed (it was above 3 Gb IIRC).Be that as it may, it's never happened on any of my devices. Before getting the 5S, I had the 4S (running 6.1.2) when iOS 7 came out. It took me a couple of months to convince myself I needed to updated. And nothing was ever downloaded automatically for me. You have to make sure you have Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically, and Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi unchecked. And just now, when I plugged my phone to my Mac and clicked on it in iTunes, I got the message An newer update is available [Download Only] or [Download and Install], I cancelled. I unplugged and plugged in again, and that message popped up again. Indicating that nothing was downloaded. I checked off Never Ask This Again and Cancelled it. And it never asked me again. When I unplugged and plugged in again.
That's not to say it didn't happen to anyone else, as it obviously did according to that article. Which is why I have everything set up manually. I don't even have iTunes set to check for updates. I do that manually. Just like the battery issue didn't affect everyone. Or how some of the known issues happened only to some people, not everyone.
Has anyone who has manual updates set up on their iPhone and in iTunes, noticed that iOS 7 automatically downloaded on their iPhones when it was released?
This has nothing to do with the manual syncing option of iTunes.