Never said it was non-existent, I said it was dead. Again, you're relying on the kindness of others NOT to Combat Log or be in another instance when they know they have everything to lose. Which brings my question full circle: What's so bad about "FLAGS" (with everything we've come to thus far, the Combat logging and the different modes that negate piracy, the gankers and rich people that won't stop killing and trolling and the fact that the social aspec of Elite: Dangerous is important for gameplay)
With those videos in mind, the reason that flags are a bad idea is because while playing in Open mode I shouldn't have to wade through a bunch of ineligible targets just so I can see that one PvP flag and think "Oh, cool, that guys is down to get pirated!"
The fact is that while playing in Open mode as it is now (without the flags you are suggesting), all of the players in that video (including myself) were at risk of of piracy whether it was an opportune time for them or not. Open mode is about accepting the risk that you may be acted upon by other players at any time, for better or for worse.
As a pirate, my goal is to prey upon the weakest of players who I know that I can dominate and coerce into giving over their cargo, either through threat or use of force. If you add "PvP flags" to this game you remove that dynamic and you turn Open mode into Goldshire, where half the players run around with impunity and the other half just stand around challenging each other to duels. I don't want to have to challenge other players to duels in the hopes that they accept. I want to find them and rob them against their will.
That's what Open mode is for. Players who are uncomfortable with that are welcome to avail themselves of the private modes of play, at the cost of not being able to freely socialize and interact with the player base at large.
Notice in that video where all of that piracy took place? It took place in Anarchy space where I, as the aggressor, was free to aggress without interference of authority ships or any other type of limiting game mechanic. That's the
purpose of Anarchy space in this game, and if players were free to just flag themselves immune to PvP then it completely removes that purpose.
It's my opinion that you are discussing game mechanics for which you haven't fully considered their role in the game holistically.
Lastly, those videos I posted for that series were but a handful of the piracy videos that I've taken. I have plenty of others that didn't make the cut for one reason or another. In all of those videos not a single CMDR combat logged on me. Yes, it has happened one time, but that was the exception, not the rule. If another player chooses to operate without integrity and combat log then I will report them and move on. As for instancing, that isn't a choice of the player, it's just how the servers work.