... don't mess with code! <https://thehackernews.com/2021/04/minnesota-university-apologizes-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHackersNews+%28The+Hackers+News+-+Cyber+Security+Blog%29&_m=3n.009a.2470.ka0ao0d8cz.1kao> What is particularly interesting is that the IRB "had reviewed the study and determined that it was not human research, only to backtrack, adding 'throughout the study, we honestly did not think this is human research, so we did not apply for an IRB approval in the beginning. We apologize for the raised concerns.'" And: "Our community does not appreciate being experimented on, and being 'tested' by submitting known patches that are (sic) either do nothing on purpose or introduce bugs on purpose," Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman said in one of the exchanges last week. Or, to quote a computer scientist engaged in exploring vulnerabilities in network engineering via Big Data approaches, thinking that no IRB review or approval was needed - "it's only data" - only to discover that there were direct, sometimes very negative consequences for human beings as a result: "Oh sh*t, it's people". Happy ethical reflexivity, folkens. best, - charles ess -- Professor Emeritus University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html> Secretary, IFIP Working Group 9.8, Gender, Diversity, and ICT <http://ifiptc9.org/9-8/> Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany 3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out: <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>