Cargo Cult Standards Compliance: Proprietary Standards in an Open Source World

Many critical industry standards are locked behind paywalls, leaving open-source developers in the dark. Without access to official documentation, developers are forced to copy from existing implementations, hoping they’re complying with the standard. This creates a sort of “cargo cult” approach, where developers have to mimic what they see other developers doing without the opportunity to fully understand the underlying standard itself. But the issue goes far beyond blind copying. The current copyright and licensing regime actively prevents developers from accessing, sharing, or implementing proprietary standards in open-source projects. Without the ability to examine and share the actual standards, developers are left vulnerable to legal risks, flawed implementations, and a stifling of innovation across the open-source community. In this talk, I’ll explore the challenges proprietary standards create for developers and the broader impact on open-source development. Drawing on real-world examples, I’ll show how the current system fails both developers and users, and propose solutions to improve the situation—such as advocating for greater transparency and legal protections for developers. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of these issues and practical ideas for how we can address them.