The IRB is there to protect innocent subjects from malicious studies. It's not that the system is 'broken', it's just 'not perfect'. It's actually been pretty

The IRB is there to protect innocent subjects from malicious studies. It's not that the system is 'broken', it's just 'not perfect'. It's actually been pretty disturbing to read this whole thread. So many HNers who complain endlessly about the relatively trivial metadata that corporations collect on us and sell, they would quite happily get rid of this committee that ensures any studies done on them meet minimum ethical requirements and ensure that subjects know that they're being tested on. Read the responses in this thread from other people who have done studies on humans that requires passing through one of these committees. Actual people who know what they're for rather than armchair critics. All of them present the same opinion: IRB's are annoying and sometimes a little frustrating, but thank god they're there, because they protect the public. Every researcher is going to claim that their study will cure cancer, but not every researcher is being truthful (because they're humans, after all), and plenty of researchers don't care if they hurt their subjects in order to add a feather to their caps.