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It's not enforced by the card. It's just a plastic tab that slides so as to tell the reader that the card should not be written. There is nothing to stop a malicious reader from writing to a write-protected card.

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No, it is electrically connected, but only to the connector. That's why one of the edge contacts is split in two. It's still up to the host to enforce.

Wow really? That's annoying. Why go to all the trouble to add the switch if they won't implement it correctly

Because engineering consumer media to be robust to a Stuxnet-level attack vector is ridiculous?

The switch as-is prevents the file system from becoming corrupt when you don't "safely remove" the device, and that's plenty enough for the average photographer.

I think the purpose of the switch is the same as the write-protect notches on old floppy disks: it's not really a security measure, it's meant to prevent the owner from accidentally formatting/erasing/overwriting things.

Or to go even further, the write-protect tabs on cassette tapes.

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