My reading of the situation is that the legislation was lacking in the programming department because of both the desire to make faster advances in the field (where regulations would potentially impede those) and not having enough expertise to come up with sensible regulations as well as regulating bodies.

I see the breaking point in the programmers supply catching up and outgrowing the demand. I predict that this will cause a chain reaction that will lead to establishing regulatory bodies, industry-wide accreditation, liability for failing to implement industry-sanctioned recommendations. It's hard to tell how long before we get to this point: other fields, especially the well-established ones took centuries to get there. On the other hand, it could be a matter of years, if we decide to copy from others rather than try to repeat their experience.