Q: Please do a public service announcement about the Ashley Madison hack, and request that no one look up information on anyone other than their own spouse. I’m a former AM user. I’ve been married to my wife for 20 years. We met when we were both 20 years old. Seven years ago, I made a selfish decision to have an affair, and five years ago, my wife found out. She hated me for a while, but we worked things out. I have been faithful since then, and our marriage is better than ever. Since my wife already knows everything, I have no worries about her finding out. But what about every other person I know? It is mortifying to think about my colleagues or my wife’s family poring through my profile information. I’m going to assume the best—most people have the common decency not to snoop into their neighbors’ bedroom habits—but it would be great if you could ask people to respect other people’s privacy. —Really Enraged Guy Requesting Everyone’s Tactful Silence
A: There’s no way to tell the difference between an Ashley Madison member who came to his (or her) senses before cheating, like AMM here, and a member who fucked a dozen other people—or, for that matter, a member who had a good reason for being on the site . . .
A: The hackers also made no effort to protect Ashley Madison members living in countries where adultery is punishable by death. Along with all the cheaters, wannabe cheaters, and people in honest open relationships, HONEST, the hackers exposed hundreds of people living in Saudi Arabia—some of them gay. Do the people out there saying AM members are getting what they deserve realize that some are going to get their heads cut off?
