> The IRB of University of Minnesota reviewed the procedures of the experiment and determined that this is not human research. We obtained a formal IRB-exempt letter.
I was wondering why he banned the whole university and not just these particular researchers. I think your quote is the answer to that. I'm not sure on what basis this exemption was granted.
Because in the paper is stated that they used partially fantasy names. So far they've found only 4 names of real @umn.edu people from Kangjie Lu's lab, which could easily be blocked, the most coming from two of his students, Aditya Pakki, Qiushi Wu, plus his colleague Wenwen Wang. The Wenwen Wang fixes look like actual fixes though, not malicious. Some of Lu's earlier patches also look good.
I was wondering why he banned the whole university and not just these particular researchers. I think your quote is the answer to that. I'm not sure on what basis this exemption was granted.
Here's what the NIH says about it:
Definition of Human Subjects Research
https://grants.nih.gov/policy/humansubjects/research.htm
Decision Tool: Am I Doing Human Subjects Research?
https://grants.nih.gov/policy/humansubjects/hs-decision.htm
And even if they did find some way to justify it under their own rules, some of the research subjects clearly disagree.