My take: yes, a researcher misrepresented who they were. But that misrepresentation had nothing to do with the alleged harm. I see no reason to believe that t

My take: yes, a researcher misrepresented who they were. But that misrepresentation had nothing to do with the alleged harm. I see no reason to believe that the writer's reaction would have been any different if the request had been a completely legitimate one, which it very well could have been. The actual substance of the request was polite, non-threatening, and potentially legitimate. If the writer had bothered to do even a few minutes of research, she would have realized that the cited law did not apply to her and the requester was simply wrong when they said that it was. A panic attack was IMHO an extreme overreaction. Solicitations are sent out under false pretenses all the time by people with far more sinister motives. I think it's reasonable to expect adults in today's world to be able to take such things in stride and not freak out about them (or at least do a little bit of homework before freaking out).