That's fair, but asking for and getting Linus' approval would have at least put them in a much stronger position. They didn't even do that. (And I doubt Linus would have even given his approval, in which case they wouldn't be in this mess.)
Agree. Since these researchers did not even ask him, they did not fulfill even the most basic requirement. If, and only if, he approves, then we can talk about who else needs to be in the know, etc.
