I don’t understand this argument. A student can only apply to one school whether it’s SCEA or ED, from a student perspective the “non compete” aspect is the same.
ED schools are always clear that students should only apply if the school is first choice. If the student decides to be “strategic” and apply somewhere not first choice to increase acceptance chances, that’s on the student. Of course by saying that you’re also admitting that the student does indeed get a quid pro quo for the restriction of ED.