Even with rules in place, I feel people would find a way to abuse it. Personally, I'm not all that crazy about Section 31. It taints everything Starfleet and Star Trek was supposed to be. Just my honest opinion.
"There sat that beautiful big machine whose sole job was to copy things and do addition. Why not make the computer do it? That’s why I sat down and wrote the first compiler. It was very stupid. What I did was watch myself put together a program and make the computer do what I did." - Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, USN
I actually love the change they've made to show beyond Starfleet. And I'm loving the new 7 of 9 and the way she has grown. It took a while for things to make sense but I've still enjoyed it.