The person responsible, a certain Ross Teixeira
at Princeton University, is now claiming publicly on Twitter that the responses to his emails were "overwhelmingly positive", a claim which I find both fascinating and highly dubious:
I kind of believe it, but from selection bias. I bet a lot of recipients either went offline or consulted a lawyer. He didn't hear from the people who are furious about it.
Oh wow -- I knew Ross as one of my TAs during my undergraduate time at Berkeley. Regardless of the issues here, I recall him as a friendly and bright person.