# Ashley Madison data breach - You going to check? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230 "2015-08-19T00:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/61 "2015-08-21T13:38:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > One off emails are easy to make. Getting credit cards in a different name are not as easy. I don’t know at what part of the sign up process you have to pay. I’d read people saying that the obvious thing to do was to buy one of those Visa pre-paid gift cards and use that. Keeps your name from being connected, and has the bonus of being a set amount so there’s a limit on how much you could be charged. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/62 "2015-08-21T13:44:56Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > But why would they do this (not doubting you, just figuring this out!) when they can just sign up for [fjlijwete24254@yahoo.com](mailto:fjlijwete24254@yahoo.com)? A lot of people don’t really understand how all that magical computer stuff works. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/63 "2015-08-21T15:07:27Z")
It seems pretty clear that Ashley Madison was just a big scam. There hardly seem to be any women on it. It reminds me of those 1-900 lines from the 90s where hot women in your area want to talk to you. I wonder if very many people ever had affairs from connections made on their site. Also, did AM host any other sites? is it possible a person’s name and email is in the data dump because they signed up for something other than AM? ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/64 "2015-08-21T15:34:02Z")
A lot of folks in our little legal community here have been “outed.” Including several lawyers, law enforcement officers, and one Judge’s husband. I predict a lot of misery from this. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/65 "2015-08-21T17:26:56Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > It seems pretty clear that Ashley Madison was just a big scam. There hardly seem to be any women on it. The hackers claimed 90-95% male; I heard the “joke” that it was millions of men chasing thousands of prostitutes… > [@](#): > > Also, did AM host any other sites? is it possible a person’s name and email is in the data dump because they signed up for something other than AM? Yes, a site called Established Men; “Established Men is an online dating site that connects Young, Beautiful Women with Successful Men”. IIRC the parent company of AM and EM is called Avid Life Media. I believe data from EM is included among the data dumps. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/66 "2015-08-21T20:21:03Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > There are probably a few high profile people, but I think most high profile people are smart enough to use fake info that can’t be traced back to them, or are smart enough to find other ways to have affairs. I figure that part of the duties for the staff of a politician is getting women discreetly in and out of the office or hotel room of the politician, no need to bring Ashley Madison into it. Josh Duggar was on and I think that’s hilarious, but I’d be very surprised if any of the presidential candidates or anyone super high profile was found on it. Someone else relatively high profile has been found: [Sam Rader, a popular Youtube vlogger](http://gawker.com/viral-christian-pregnancy-youtuber-sam-rader-had-a-paid-1725258643). If you have heard of him (which I realize many people have not), he got viral fame recently for doing a pregnancy test on his wife’s urine which was sitting in the toilet, and telling her she was pregnant. Then a few days later the couple announced to everyone that there was a miscarriage. For most internet personalities it probably wouldn’t matter if they were found on there, but he’s a conservative Christian, who posts videos with his wife on family, marriage, and Bible study. They had a video where they convinced their five-year-old daughter that gay marriage is wrong. So he’s someone else I’m not too bothered by them being outed as being on AM. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/67 "2015-08-21T20:37:45Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > For most internet personalities it probably wouldn’t matter if they were found on there, but he’s a conservative Christian, who posts videos with his wife on family, marriage, and Bible study. They had a video where they convinced their five-year-old daughter that gay marriage is wrong. So he’s someone else I’m not too bothered by them being outed as being on AM. Yeah, me too. I’m not into witch hunts, but people that spend their lives telling the rest of us to follow their rules (which include not cheating on your spouse) deserve to be outed. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/68 "2015-08-21T23:59:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I doubt the wife has heard of Ashley Madison. Don’t think I did before the hacking made the news. But I wonder why so many people would use their real names when looking for an affair. > > Nah, that was just a smokescreen on his part. Just as much as your wife’s 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/69 "2015-08-21T23:59:51Z")
I’d be interested to see some data mining on the data as a bulk… what states/regions had the highest proportion of signups, etc. (crosses fingers that there is a correlation between AM and proportion of fundamental xians, or some such hilarious irony…) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/70 "2015-08-22T00:15:45Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > Just as much as your wife’s > 😛 Oh noes! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/71 "2015-08-22T00:45:56Z")
My husband has no interest in computers, so for him to do it, I would have had to sign him up. I didn’t, so why look? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/72 "2015-08-22T02:26:16Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I’d be interested to see some data mining on the data as a bulk… what states/regions had the highest proportion of signups, etc. > > (crosses fingers that there is a correlation between AM and proportion of fundamental xians, or some such hilarious irony…) Years ago, before the advent of the internet, I did some IT work for a firm that was big in the phone sex business. They had a coast-to-coast presence and umpteen tens of thousands of customers. Pretty much their customer demographics matched the popularity of the Baptist church. The more Bible Beltish the locale, the higher percentage of residents were this company’s customers. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/73 "2015-08-22T03:30:22Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Someone else relatively high profile has been found: [Sam Rader, a popular Youtube vlogger](http://gawker.com/viral-christian-pregnancy-youtuber-sam-rader-had-a-paid-1725258643). If you have heard of him (which I realize many people have not), he got viral fame recently for doing a pregnancy test on his wife’s urine which was sitting in the toilet, and telling her she was pregnant. Then a few days later the couple announced to everyone that there was a miscarriage. > > For most internet personalities it probably wouldn’t matter if they were found on there, but he’s a conservative Christian, who posts videos with his wife on family, marriage, and Bible study. They had a video where they convinced their five-year-old daughter that gay marriage is wrong. So he’s someone else I’m not too bothered by them being outed as being on AM. [He posted a video response.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilFuzKURvhk) Yeah, it’s him. He made the account. I guess he told his wife and church 2 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/74 "2015-08-22T03:35:33Z")
By the way, that dude’s(Rader) wife has weird eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/75 "2015-08-22T04:54:05Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Did anyone miss the part about “Ashley Angels”? > > It seems that the site had a disclaimer that the ‘women’ posting replies to men’s requests were likely these personas created by AM’s creators. These “Angels” would post photos of “themselves” and engage is conversation. > > IOW: Real males lusting after non-existent (but HOT!) women > > If you find your hubby on this site, pity the idiot. If the site is there in order to facilitate covert _meetings_, and no meetings ever took place because the women weren’t real, what would the motivation be on the part of Ashley Madison to deceive its own customers like that? 😕 It seems like a very short-sighted scheme, as no customers would ever return and word would spread online and business would die. > [@Rigamarole](#): > > I’m sure there’s also some real female prostitutes/webcammers trolling for customers as well. Now I can understand this scheme, it’s all over the traditional dating sites. > [@madmonk28](#): > > **It seems pretty clear that Ashley Madison was just a big scam**. There hardly seem to be any women on it. It reminds me of those 1-900 lines from the 90s where hot women in your area want to talk to you. I wonder if very many people ever had affairs from connections made on their site. (my bold) Does it? Then how has it stayed a (I’d assume) profitable website for all these years? I don’t get it. People would flock to various blogs and websites to cry foul over the deception if they’ve been such an obvious scam for so long. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/76 "2015-08-22T04:55:10Z")
I must admit that for me there’s a certain _schadenfreude_ about this data hack – kind of centers around the idea of jerks and homewreckers getting what they deserve. Call me old fashioned, but it always astounded me that there was an actual business engaged in this sort of low-life bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/77 "2015-08-22T10:59:05Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I… People would flock to various blogs and websites to cry foul over the deception if they’ve been such an obvious scam for so long. That would require many men to publicly announce both that they intended to be unfaithful and that they couldn’t get a date. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/78 "2015-08-22T14:13:23Z")
> [@llcoolbj77](#): > > A lot of folks in our little legal community here have been “outed.” Including several lawyers, law enforcement officers, and one Judge’s husband. I predict a lot of misery from this. From the actions of the cheaters you mean. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/79 "2015-08-22T14:18:12Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > It seems pretty clear that Ashley Madison was just a big scam. There hardly seem to be any women on it. It reminds me of those 1-900 lines from the 90s where hot women in your area want to talk to you. I wonder if very many people ever had affairs from connections made on their site. > > Also, did AM host any other sites? is it possible a person’s name and email is in the data dump because they signed up for something other than AM? The funniest thing is that Ashley Madison’s founder always claimed that the site was pro women, because it evened the cheating field for them.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230/80 "2015-08-22T14:27:28Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > You may not be, but your email address may be! You should check. After I just Honked Sirius’ clown nose and given that my email is listed here? No Bet. The only real bet is whether the IP that registered it and the cc that would have had to pay for it is from Westchester or Long Island. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ashley-madison-data-breach-you-going-to-check/728230.md?page=5)