The confusion
The presence of machine-readable governance files (JSON, JSON-LD, structured registries) can suggest that the constraints they declare are automatically enforced by some system.
Why the distinction matters
Machine-readable governance makes constraints discoverable and auditable. It does not make them enforced. Enforcement is an implementation concern that depends on the systems consuming these files.
Publishing a response-legitimacy constraint in JSON means any system can read it. Whether that system actually applies it is a separate question.
The boundary
- Machine-readable governance: constraints are published in formats that machines can parse.
- Automated enforcement: constraints are actively applied by a running system.
The first enables the second but does not guarantee it. Governance files are declarations, not executors.