> a de-facto industry standard that non-experts use to judge things against What purpose does a standards body have if not to set industry standards? Even if i

> a de-facto industry standard that non-experts use to judge things against What purpose does a standards body have if not to set industry standards? Even if it's a government standard, would it not better than 99% of specifications a one-off contract would include? I mean – if it becomes outdated, the contractors can always make their case, and they'll probably have Google etc. not following the standard either to point at. Also: slippery slope fallacy.