When I work with Faculty (teaching or research, tenured or not), they are very conscious of their image/reputation. It would look pretty bad for a researcher to "sign off" on something, only for flaws to be discovered.
> It would look pretty bad for a researcher to "sign off" on something, only for flaws to be discovered.
True, but there is a big difference between "Hey, I'm using your stuff, could you look at this and see if I did something stupid?" and "I want you to sign off on this publicly. Here is the contract."
Yeah, maybe a flight and some expensive beers.
Most academic crypto guys are ecstatic at the thought of someone asking them prior to using their stuff wrong.