Farhad Manjoo writes in Hacking Victims Deserve Empathy, Not Ridicule:
…
But the theft and disclosure of more than 30 million accounts from Ashley Madison, a site that advertises itself as a place for married people to discreetly set up extramarital affairs, is different. After the hacking, many victims have been plunged into the depths of despair. In addition to those contemplating suicide, dozens have told Mr. Hunt that they feared losing their jobs and families, and they expected to be humiliated among friends and co-workers.…
But the victims of the Ashley Madison hacking deserve our sympathy and aid because, with slightly different luck, you or I could just as easily find ourselves in a similarly sorry situation. This breach stands as a monument to the blind trust many of us have placed in our computers — and how powerless we all are to evade the disasters that may befall us when the trust turns out to be misplaced.
…
Being seen at a high-end restaurant when you are “working late” by your spouse, or your spouse finding condoms (which you don’t use at home) in your jacket, or your boss seeing you exiting a co-worker’s hotel room in a state of undress, differs from a cyberhack outing in what way?
All of those cases would induce fear of losing family, job, and humiliation among friends and co-workers. Yes?
We know now that almost no women used the Ashley Madison site so truth in advertising leads to: “Life’s short. Have a fantasy affair.”
The Ashley Madison data should be made publicly available to everyone.
None of the people verified as giving Ashley Madison credit card data and a profile, should ever be given access to any IT system. Ever. (full stop)
Anyone giving information that could be used for blackmail purposes to an online adultery site is a security risk. Best to weed them out of your IT system post-haste.
Victims in a VISA, Mastercard or the OMB hack are different. They supplied information for legitimate purposes and the act of submission carries no potential for blackmail.
Ashley Madison customers supplied personal data, knowing their membership could be used for blackmail purposes.
Perhaps that is too subtle a distinction for the New York Times or the Ashley Madison data has an abundance of yet undisclosed email addresses.