I can see that the discussion in your linked piece would be relevant if one was considering the relative legitimacy of two regulating bodies, but I think Bruce's case is simpler. It rests on whether a rider's self-delcared total (albeit with some data shared via Strava and GarminConnect) is sufficient to give it legitimacy. I'd argue that a point of principle should be that those authenticating a record should have no particular interest in its outcome (which patently does not apply in any form of self-regulation).
So the question becomes, does a record on Strava/GarminConnect provide sufficient information for 'the crowd' to do that authentication? I'd argue that for reasons given in other threads about the relative ease of faking Strava uploads, and the fact that other considerations need also to be taken into account, such as motorised drafting, vehicle type etc., the answer is no.