Ashley Madison sued for $578 million

[Blue Wolf]

This story is getting really interesting, so I thought I would start a thread about it here.

I wonder how long Ashley Madison is going to last? This company is in big trouble.

Two Canadian law firms have filed a $578 million class-action lawsuit against the companies that run Ashley Madison after a hacker group's data breach exposed some 39 million memberships in the adultery website earlier this week.

Charney Lawyers and Sutts, Strosberg LLP, both of Ontario, said Friday that they filed the lawsuit on behalf of Canadians who subscribed to Ashley Madison and whose personal information was disclosed to the public. The website, with its slogan "Life is short. Have an affair," is marketed to facilitate extramarital relationships.

The law firms' statement said numerous former users of the website have approached them to inquire about their privacy rights under Canadian law.

"They are outraged that AshleyMadison.com failed to protect its users' information. In many cases, the users paid an additional fee for the website to remove all of their user data, only to discover that the information was left intact and exposed," lawyer Ted Charney said.

The law firms said the lawsuit is not being brought against the hackers, who have said they attacked the website in an effort to close it down as punishment for collecting a fee without actually deleting users' data.

Full story: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ashley-madison-faces-578m-canadian-193220673.html

[laidback]

LOL, another instance of perps whining about being outed for illegal or immoral behavior! I guess it never occurs to them that if they don't join and leave their info they can't be outed...?

[littleroundman]

What, and accept responsibility for their own actions ???

In 2015 ???

Unheard of

[ribshaw]

I was wondering who would be signing on for the class action suit? A boon for the attorneys, $11 checks for the victims, and the usual method of contact is to send a postcard.

11826

[Whip]

I was wondering who would be signing on for the class action suit? A boon for the attorneys, $11 checks for the victims, and the usual method of contact is to send a postcard.

11826

surely you paid like $300 to funnybiz for that right?

[ribshaw]

surely you paid like $300 to funnybiz for that right?

I'll get them back when I get my AM settlement check, just told the misses I would be getting the mail for the next few years.

11827

[Luzer]

At least two people in a pool of 37 million Ashley Madison users outed as potential adulterers this week have committed suicide, police say, though it’s reportedly still unclear whether their deaths were a direct result of the hack.

Toronto police said in a press conference Monday they’re investigating at least “two unconfirmed reports of suicides associated with the leak of Ashley Madison’s customers’ profile.”


Police: At Least Two Suicides Linked to Ashley Madison Hack (http://gawker.com/police-at-least-two-suicides-linked-to-ashley-madison-1726104618)

[Luzer]

I was wondering who would be signing on for the class action suit?

Joshua Duggar?

[Blue Wolf]

This reminds me of a rat jumping off a sinking ship . . .

Ashley Madison CEO steps down in wake of hacking

The CEO of the company that runs adultery website Ashley Madison is stepping down in the wake of the massive breach of the company's computer systems and outing of millions of its members.

Avid Life Media Inc. says Noel Biderman's departure is effective immediately and was a mutual decision.

Biderman, who touted himself as "the king of infidelity," made millions off the philosophy that cheating is a natural part of married life. The site charges a fee each time a member sends a potential lover a message.

Biderman has written books espousing his views on adultery, including one published in 2011 titled: "Cheaters Prosper — How Infidelity Will Save The Modern Marriage." At the same time, the married father of two has claimed to be a devoted husband and that his wife of 12 years would be heartbroken if he ever broke his vows to her.

Full story: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/ashley-madison-ceo-steps-down-wake-hacking-143842143--finance.html

[ribshaw]

I don't know which I find more troubling, bureaucrats trying to get their cookie on the taxpayer dime.

Hundreds of feds paid for Ashley Madison memberships at work | TheHill (http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/251623-hundreds-of-feds-paid-for-ashley-madison-memberships-at-work)

Hundreds of government workers accessed and paid membership fees for the affair-focused website Ashley Madison using their federal Internet connection, The Associated Press reports.

The officials included several assistant U.S. attorneys, a prominent information technology administrator in the White House, a Justice Department trial attorney and at least two Department of Homeland Security employees, one who worked in the agency's hacking division and another who focused on counterterrorism.


Or someone in the press asking why a single man would want to use a service where women presumably are looking uncommitted sex.

6 cases where the Ashley Madison leak has ensnared political and public officials - The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/26/6-cases-where-the-ashley-madison-leak-has-ensnared-political-and-public-officials/)


A city councilman in Queensland, Australia, was caught up in the leak, and he doesn't deny being involved. There's one catch, though: Craig Ogilvie wasn't seeking an affair, because he says he's not married.

The question that follows, of course, is why a single man decided he needed to use Ashley Madison's secretive service, especially when there are so many other dating Web sites out there.

[ribshaw]

Just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder...



"As I’ll explain below, there’s a good chance that about 12,000 of the profiles out of millions belonged to actual, real women who were active users of Ashley Madison."

Almost None of the Women in the Ashley Madison Database Ever Used the Site [Updated] (http://gizmodo.com/almost-none-of-the-women-in-the-ashley-madison-database-1725558944)

Ashley Madison hack: Former employee claims she made hundreds of fake 'alluring female' profiles as million-pound lawsuits launched - News - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ashley-madison-hack-former-employee-claims-she-made-hundreds-of-fake-alluring-female-profiles-as-millionpound-lawsuits-launched-10466900.html)

[Whip]

What's weirder? That there may have been actual females on the site? agreed.

[okosh]

Just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder...



"As I’ll explain below, there’s a good chance that about 12,000 of the profiles out of millions belonged to actual, real women who were active users of Ashley Madison."

Almost None of the Women in the Ashley Madison Database Ever Used the Site [Updated] (http://gizmodo.com/almost-none-of-the-women-in-the-ashley-madison-database-1725558944)

Ashley Madison hack: Former employee claims she made hundreds of fake 'alluring female' profiles as million-pound lawsuits launched - News - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ashley-madison-hack-former-employee-claims-she-made-hundreds-of-fake-alluring-female-profiles-as-millionpound-lawsuits-launched-10466900.html)

And now they claim hundreds of thousands have signed up for accounts since the hack.....SMH...LMAO...
Ashley Madison claims website growing despite hack (http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/ashley-madison-insists-hundreds-of-thousands-of-new-members-have-joined-following-the-hacking-scandal/story-fnjwnj25-1227509102769)