You should report this to the IRB. The research is conducted on information obtained by interacting with humans, and therefore should be classify as Human Subjects Research [1].
Waivers of informed consent can be obtained under some circumstances, for example in the case of a retrospective study where the data has already been collected and contacting subjects would be difficult/unnecessary, or it can be shown to adversely affect the outcomes of the study [2, search for waiver].
But regardless, even if informed consent were to be waived, the fact that this is human research means that the researchers should be trained in Research Ethics and Good Clinical Practice (even if the research is not clinical), and understand that the goal is always to minimize risk for the participants - risk which was clearly not properly evaluated under the current project.
Waivers of informed consent can be obtained under some circumstances, for example in the case of a retrospective study where the data has already been collected and contacting subjects would be difficult/unnecessary, or it can be shown to adversely affect the outcomes of the study [2, search for waiver].
But regardless, even if informed consent were to be waived, the fact that this is human research means that the researchers should be trained in Research Ethics and Good Clinical Practice (even if the research is not clinical), and understand that the goal is always to minimize risk for the participants - risk which was clearly not properly evaluated under the current project.
[1] https://grants.nih.gov/policy/humansubjects/research.htm [2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/45/46.116