Well for starters they are lying and misreprenting themselves and the basis for their query. They say they are a data subject from Nice and represent that they are going to make a request under the CCPA. In actual practise they are a researcher from Princeton. If you don't think that's an ethical problem then I don't see it's worth discussing further.
When you say "If I as an ordinary citizen..." you essentially make this point. They are not an ordinary citizen making a data request, they are researcher who thinks it's ok to lie to collect data perhaps because they think people would give different responses when faced with a genuine data subject access request than when talking to a known researcher.
When you say "If I as an ordinary citizen..." you essentially make this point. They are not an ordinary citizen making a data request, they are researcher who thinks it's ok to lie to collect data perhaps because they think people would give different responses when faced with a genuine data subject access request than when talking to a known researcher.