Trade associations do this, too [EDIT: directly, that is, not just via lobbying]. I once saw someone on this very site (weakly, to be fair to the poster) defend

Trade associations do this, too [EDIT: directly, that is, not just via lobbying]. I once saw someone on this very site (weakly, to be fair to the poster) defend Google's poor labeling of their ads on the search screen with something along the lines of "they're just following the guidelines set forth by [trade association]". Which is exactly the reaction they try to get by laundering their preferences through trade associations. That's the point. An illusion of some kind of authority keeping companies in check, while actually it's those very companies setting the rules, to deflect criticism and stave off actual regulation.