Regulatory Alchemy: Turning Cybersecurity Guidelines Into Rules

In “Pirates of the Caribbean,” when Barbossa double-crosses Elizabeth, she invokes the Pirate’s Code, but Barbossa dismissively replies that “the code is more what you'd call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.” Call it a reverse Barbossa, but the directive on pipeline security issued last week by the Transportation Security Administration basically says that the TSA’s Pipeline Security Guidelines are now more what you’d call actual rules than guidelines.