Random links

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/hackers-theyve-leaked-massive-database-ashley-madison-users-101012586.html

First of all, what kind of absolute moron uses his work address for this? Especially people in the military/government.

But also no, the leak isn't what's threatening all those people's marriages, the rampant cheating does.

You're right. But.

See, I'm in the camp that thinks that cheating is fucking horrible, but that doesn't give hackers a blanket pardon for breaking the law and then leaking people's private lives all over the internet. It's not "okay" just because the people you're targetting may be cheating on their spouses.

I bet tons of people use it and lie about being married; or alternatively are in really bad marriages that they can't get out of and the website provides some (now provably false) sense of security as they try to find an outside recipient of their passions--this can be anything from someone in the closet to someone whose marriage is dead in the water to someone who is treated badly by their spouse and uses this as a getaway;
I suspect a lot of the spouses don't want this stuff out in the open and would legitimately prefer to keep their private affairs private;
This creates a double-standard where it's okay to violate people's privacy--despite them not having done anything particularly illegal--as long as what they did isn't morally ethical in mainstream society.

I think cheating is fucking stupid and a dick move and all that stuff; I don't support it, I don't abide it, and the times I've been cheated on have been definitive ends to relationships. But that doesn't mean anyone in this entire fucking mess is guilt-free, except maybe the families--particularly the children--who might get seriously affected by not only their family being torn apart but it happening publicly.

So fuck Ashley Madison for providing a morally shitty service, fuck those clients who made use of said service for being at best people in bad situations who made a bad choice or mistake, and at worst cheating jacknockers, and fuck the hackers for deciding they get to play moral police over something that is none of their business.

EmmahSue

O science!

http://www.iflscience.com/method-removing-carbon-dioxide-air-could-return-us-pre-industrial-revolution-co2-levels

ES

Arkandel

@Coin said:

See, I'm in the camp that thinks that cheating is fucking horrible, but that doesn't give hackers a blanket pardon for breaking the law and then leaking people's private lives all over the internet. It's not "okay" just because the people you're targetting may be cheating on their spouses.

That was never an issue though. The hackers didn't do this for moral reasons. They did it to blackmail the company for money. It was when the blackmail didn't work that they released the data - publicising the issue ahead of time was just an extra method to apply pressure on them.

This isn't a morality hack. This is a (fairly standard) data extortion scheme with some morality sprinkled on top.

... Having said that, it's hilarious, and getting some statistics out of the service because of this actually helps answer certain questions about the demographics of all such sites, even the less sketchy ones.