Comment by ineedasername

I don't know how their IRB approved this, although we also don't know what details the researchers gave the IRB.

It had a high human component because it was humans making many decisions in this process. In particular, there was the potential to cause maintainers personal embarrassment or professional censure by letting through a bugged patch.

If the researchers even considered this possibility, I doubt the IRB would have approved this experimental protocol if laid out in those terms.