Distance Education (DE) has become a central modality within Brazil’s higher education landscape. In the absence of a comprehensive regulatory framework, the Brazilian government enacted a new Decree, establishing a pivotal normative milestone for DE. This study critically examines the Decree through the methodological lens of public policy analysis, based on Mainardes and Ball's approach. Anchored in critical theories of technology, this study proposes and analyses technology as an object of study in itself, a vital addition to the context of educational policy. Findings reveal that important requirements of minimal standards for the private and public sectors were established by the Decree. However, it disregards fundamental issues related to digital sovereignty, labor intensification, accelerates the deprofessionalization of academic work, and legitimizes the outsourcing of administrative functions to part-time workers. The normative opens space for future algorithmic management and performance metrics, introducing new forms of surveillance and control over educators’ work, with significant implications for pedagogical freedom and academic integrity. This study argues that these developments represent a broader shift towards the commodification of the Brazilian Public University, necessitating critical resistance from the academic community to safeguard democratic, ethical, and sovereign educational practices.