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When a card flashes you should announce that the card has flashed...

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You should have announced that you saw the card...

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Question: Is this an actual rule or is this just something under the category of "etiquette?"

Thanks in advance for your replies.

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The card was exposed. Therefore it should be shown to all and replaced. That isn't etiquette that is the rule.

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Understood and agreed 100%.

However, in this instance, the card was flashed to one player unbeknownst to everyone else at the table. This presents a dilemma to the player with this “illicit” knowledge. Is this player “on his honor” to disclose this information? Obviously, this is the only way in which this situation could be remedied.

So it is, after all, a question of etiquette.

As you and I well know, however, while the angelic among us would indeed feel honor-bound to disclose this information (I include myself, of course, in this camp) others would be in the Jack Straus “Bust-Their-Own-Grandmother” camp and would keep it to themselves. And—perhaps rightly so—believe they are in the right.

How then is this dilemma resolved for the “honest” player? Is it fair that he voluntarily discloses this information repudiating any unfair advantage over others, while others exploit their unfair advantage over him when the roles are reversed? Again, how is this to be resolved?

Your, or any other’s thoughts welcome.

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No, it doesn't change from the issue of being a rule to being an issue of etiquette just because you present a situation where no one else is aware that the rule is being broken. If you commit a crime in private it is still a crime, not just a breach of protocal.

The question of whether one acts honestly when they can get away with acting dishonestly is a matter of personal integrity. Of course your decision there is probably indicative of the other types of decisions you make in your life, and eventually people will catch on and treat you accordingly.