Which is completely fine, IMO, because,as pointed out already, the university's IRB has utterly failed here. There is no way how this sort of "research" could have passed an ethics review.

- Human subjects - Intentionally misleading/misrepresenting things, potential for a lot of damage, given how widespread Linux is - No informed consent at all!

Sorry but one cannot use unsuspecting people as guinea pigs for research, even if it is someone from a reputable institution.