Statement from UMN CS&E on Linux Kernel Research

Who would ever believe that this department only just found out about research that's been ongoing for a couple of years and has resulted in published papers? UMN isn't a small school, but I find it hard to imagine that it's so big nobody in the department knew about or reported this.

What does it mean to "suspend" a line of research that has already resulted in publications?

I think it's much more likely that this unprofessional/unethical conduct has now reached a level where they know they have no choice but to respond, so they're trying to limit their liability.

That said, I also fault the kernel maintainers, a little, for reacting the way they did - how much of the huge reaction and mass reversion was being angry about the ethics of the situation, and how much was embarrassment that much of it managed to go undetected? Though what they did should never have been done, it does seem like the researchers' point has been proved somewhat.

Post on UMN site at https://cse.umn.edu/cs/statement-cse-linux-kernel-research-a....

HN discussion related to it at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26895510.

While the very least they could do in response to their ban, even this response feels a bit wishy-washy. I'll be quite concerned about the "if needed" in their statement doing quite a lot of work. And given the "as soon as practical" in the end I won't be surprised if they just wait and do nothing.

Hopefully they prove my fears unjustified.