Got it. I took the fact that the request was outside the scope of GDPR to mean that the researchers were trying to thinly veil their request as an official gov

Got it. I took the fact that the request was outside the scope of GDPR to mean that the researchers were trying to thinly veil their request as an official government request akin to a supeona, which is why I originally stated I wouldn't accept electronic delivery of supeonas. Note: I also would freely ignore real GDPR requests because I'm US-based, and the EU has no jurisdiction over me.