> A human subject means a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) who is conducting research:
> (i) Obtains information or biospecimens through intervention or interaction with the individual, and uses, studies, or analyzes the information or biospecimens
The information they were looking for is 'how does this person respond when they receive an email threatening legal action under CCPA?'
A human subject means ... a living individual ... about whom an investigator... obtains information... through intervention or interaction... and studies... the information.
That they mistakenly thought they were investigating how "an organization" responds when they receive an email is based on an erroneous assumption that an organization is itself an autonomous, sentient entity whose behavior can be studied independently of its human constituents.
I think individuals in a research group in a department in a university in a city in a state in a republic know organizations contain individuals.
Your interpretation would make most of the definition redundant. They could just say any individual an investigator interacts with. IRBs don't interpret it like that.
> They could just say any individual an investigator interacts with.
Not quite, because the definition needs to also encompass individuals that researchers acquire information about without directly interacting—eg. getting patient data from a healthcare provider.
> A human subject means a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) who is conducting research:
> (i) Obtains information or biospecimens through intervention or interaction with the individual, and uses, studies, or analyzes the information or biospecimens
The information they were looking for is 'how does this person respond when they receive an email threatening legal action under CCPA?'
A human subject means ... a living individual ... about whom an investigator... obtains information... through intervention or interaction... and studies... the information.
That they mistakenly thought they were investigating how "an organization" responds when they receive an email is based on an erroneous assumption that an organization is itself an autonomous, sentient entity whose behavior can be studied independently of its human constituents.