Ashley Madison (cheating / affair website) hacked

[Locke]

Really? Almost 10% of Calgarians had an account?

How many users do we have on here? Lets do a little statistical analysis!

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix

The one thing out of all this that is a positive is that at least Anonymous didn't just sell the data to the highest bidder. By dumping it they ensured there would be no blackmailing that would come out of this. Small consolation, but there was a much worse way this could have played out for many of these people.

Except the information is out there now when it wouldn't have been otherwise. Someone could find their neighbour or coworker is on there and decide to blackmail them with no information other than an email. I think a few stories like this one out of Australia will pop up more and more in the coming weeks.

I'll admit to laughing about the leak. "These guys deserve it if they cheat." But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there are too many innocent bi-standers outside of the leaked names/emails that will get caught in the crossfire for this to be funny. The kids of the cheating parents don't need to brought up in public like this. Spouses have the right to know, but not in a public way like this. It would be crushing.

If any suicides are caused by this leak and kids lose a parent, it will be tough to side with the "good guy" hackers.

[AcGold]

Blackmail is illegal while cheating is not. I'd record that interaction and threaten to sue the #### out of the person

[rubecube]

And then there's this aspect:

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-pol...omen-lgbt-risk

As it turns out, no. The Ashley Madison leaks, as many observers began noting yesterday afternoon, will have real world, devastating consequences on thousands of users worldwide. When the dust clears, it will be most vulnerable among us -- LGBT and women in repressive countries -- that will ultimately pay the price. And unlike Josh Duggar, their price will not be paid in snarky internet comments but rather loss of employment, family, and, in some cases, possibly their lives.

Public shaming aside, let's break down who we know might be at risk thus far legally, by sheer law of averages. LGBT, women, and, to a lesser extent, straight male adulterers in the following countries:

Saudi Arabia

The BBC reported that over 1,200 users have .sa email domains. Not only is adultery illegal in Saudi Arabia, it's punishable by death. Though death sentences for adultery are exceedingly rare, the exposure of this crime can lead to lesser charges and social shaming. Homosexuality and cross-dressing can also lead to imprisonment, fines, corporal punishment, capital punishment, and whipping/flogging.

Turkey

1,450 accounts from Turkey have been found. While homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey it can get one kicked out or banned from military service. Adultery, while not illegal, does carry great moral shame that disproportionately affects women.

Qatar

53 accounts with a .qa domain have been exposed. Homosexual relationships are illegal in Qatar, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Adultery is punishable by 100 lashes and when the woman is Muslim and the man is not, the woman can be put to death. Again, these punishments are rare but they are a real threat.

Thus far this is the list we know. We will update when the BBC and others dissect the data further. In the interim consider that in over 75 countries homosexuality is illegal, exposing one to prison time and in some cases, death.

So yeah, nice work, hackers.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by AcGold

Blackmail is illegal while cheating is not. I'd record that interaction and threaten to sue the #### out of the person

That would defeat the purpose since the whole reason they are blackmailing you is because you have some reason to not want your family/friends to know about this account. If you were to sue someone for blackmailing you with that, they would surely know about it afterwards.

[dammage79]

The collateral damage is far too great and is the biggest reason why I am against hackers releasing this info publically. I got into a FB debate over this when CJAY posed the question "should we release the names of the cheaters on air".

Internet justice in this case isn't going to punish the cheaters more than the ones they cheated on or their kids, or immediate family. They're going to have to do so much damage control over this and they don't deserve the added drama on top of discovering that their Spouse/Parent/Child is a dirtbag. And all of this publically. Terrible.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Tin Foil Hat Conspiracy Theory: A group of divorce lawyers paid the hackers to do this

[rubecube]

Sounds like AM might have still been storing users' info after their accounts were deleted. That's a huge breach of privacy.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by KTrain

Except the information is out there now when it wouldn't have been otherwise. Someone could find their neighbour or coworker is on there and decide to blackmail them with no information other than an email.

I meant instead of dumping it for all to see, they could've sold that info to a third party. That third party could then mine the data down and use it as they please without it becoming public. They then could find the names of rich people/celebs/politicians and use that info to blackmail them.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by dammage79

The collateral damage is far too great and is the biggest reason why I am against hackers releasing this info publically. I got into a FB debate over this when CJAY posed the question "should we release the names of the cheaters on air".

Internet justice in this case isn't going to punish the cheaters more than the ones they cheated on or their kids, or immediate family. They're going to have to do so much damage control over this and they don't deserve the added drama on top of discovering that their Spouse/Parent/Child is a dirtbag. And all of this publically. Terrible.

And in some cases, the paternity of children might start to be questioned by children and/or the fathers when women are the cheaters.

[jschick88]

THE HACKERS BEHIND the Ashley Madison breach appear to have upped their game, if that was even possible, by taking direct aim at the company’s top executive, Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media, AshleyMadison’s parent company.

On the heels of releasing 10 gigabytes of data on Tuesday, they released a new, bigger batch of data that’s about 20 gigabytes worth of compressed files. And while the first batch mostly exposed Ashley Madison’s covert customers, this latest may prove to be more embarrassing to the company’s executives. Judging by the file names in the latest dump, they appear to include email spools belonging to Ashley Madison’s top executive. One file bears the name noel.biderman.mail.7z, a likely reference to Biderman.

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/ashley-...er-batch-data/

[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

And in some cases, the paternity of children might start to be questioned by children and/or the fathers when women are the cheaters.

Well 10% of us aren't fathered by the person we think. So yeah, having mommy on this list would probably up your chances.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by pseudoreality

Well 10% of us aren't fathered by the person we think. So yeah, having mommy on this list would probably up your chances.

Really?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by jschick88

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/ashley-...er-batch-data/

Man, my life is so boring.

"Hackers take all of Locke's emails later found dead in an alley, presumably of Boredom."

What is these guys' endgame? What are they getting out of all of this or is this just Social Justice Warriors The Extreme Edition?

[MillerTime GFG]

Originally Posted by Locke

Really? Almost 10% of Calgarians had an account?

How many users do we have on here? Lets do a little statistical analysis!

Well, I guess I'll be the first to admit that I have an Ashley Madison account. BUT, it's not what you all are thinking.

I actually made my account after hearing on the radio or TV (can't remember) that the most subscriptions were made the day after valentines, which is when I made my account...WITH my wife.

We thought it would be funny to search through there and see if there was anyone we knew, but after about 5 minutes we realized you can't really do much without paying for your subscription (which we obviously didn't).

Now I'm just worried that some friends or family members are going to goof around on that email search thing and find mine show up haha. I'll have some 'splainin to to do!

So I wonder how many of those accounts are similar to mine?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Really?

http://disinfo.com/2011/02/one-out-o...elieve-is-dad/

The overall figure of 10 percent is actually an average estimate based on many studies taking place in sundry regions over the course of decades. In his book Sperm Wars: The Science of Sex, biologist Robin Baker, PhD, summarizes the stats:

Actual figures range from 1 percent in high-status areas of the United States and Switzerland, to 5 to 6 percent for moderate-status males in the United States and Great Britain, to 10 to 30 percent for lower-status males in the United States, Great Britain and France.

The prestigious medical journal the Lancet concurs: “The true frequency of non-paternity is not known, but published reports suggest an incidence from as low as 1% per generation up to about 30% in the population.”

[Senator Clay Davis]

Thing is I don't expect her to divorce him, and ultimately given the Duggar history I expect she'll ultimately claim she was responsible for this.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by troutman

http://disinfo.com/2011/02/one-out-o...elieve-is-dad/

The overall figure of 10 percent is actually an average estimate based on many studies taking place in sundry regions over the course of decades. In his book Sperm Wars: The Science of Sex, biologist Robin Baker, PhD, summarizes the stats:

Actual figures range from 1 percent in high-status areas of the United States and Switzerland, to 5 to 6 percent for moderate-status males in the United States and Great Britain, to 10 to 30 percent for lower-status males in the United States, Great Britain and France.

The prestigious medical journal the Lancet concurs: “The true frequency of non-paternity is not known, but published reports suggest an incidence from as low as 1% per generation up to about 30% in the population.”

This is the most important part.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...merica/252640/

[Coach]

I happily await Josh Duggar's segment of "F*** That Guy!" on Last Week Tonight.

[FlamesAddiction]

From CBC (it says 3% of children are the product of infidelity):

Spoiler!