Adam's Rule is an adage that originated during negotations for Digital Cable Ready. The rule reads:
We should be free to build <expletive>.
Generally speaking, this expresses a belief that receiver equipment manufacturers should not be required to build quality (or even functional) products, but rather such requirements should be left to the marketplace (see Market Economy) - which is a much more functional mechanism for such requirement.
In a functional market economy, products which work poorly or for which there are lesser-priced equivalent alternatives, sell poorly. Consequently, the companies that manufacture such products revise or withdraw them due to the economic conditions - and command economy elements proscribing poor products are counterproductive.