Why the Ashley Madison Leak Puts Thousands of Women & LGBT Lives at Risk

[hack89]

Soon after the Ashley Madison details were made public Wednesday, tabloids fell all over each other to find juicy tidbits of hypocrisy and moral corruption — especially of their political enemies. Yesterday afternoon Gawker hit gold, revealing that Josh Duggar, a known pedophile and the reigning king of rightwing hypocrites, had sought extramarital affairs on both Ashley Madison and OKCupid. In no time, the Schadenfreude-giddy blogs were basking in another Duggar scandal. But was it all worth it?

As it turns out, no. The Ashley Madison leaks, as many observers began noting yesterday afternoon, could have real-world, devastating consequences on thousands of users worldwide. When the dust clears, it will be the most vulnerable — LGBT people and women in repressive countries — who will ultimately pay the price, not in snarky Internet comments but through loss of employment, family and in some cases, possibly their lives.

As one anonymous gay man in Saudi Arabia noted on Reddit after the leak was exposed last month: "I am from a country where homosexuality carries the death penalty. I studied in America the last several years and used Ashley Madison during that time. (For those of you who haven't been following the story, Ashley Madison has been hacked and its users' names and addresses are on the verge of being exposed.) I was single, but used it because I am gay; gay sex is punishable by death in my home country so I wanted to keep my hookups extremely discreet.

I only used AM to hook up with single guys. Most of you are Westerners in countries that are relatively liberal on LGBT issues. For those of you who are older--try to think back to a time 10 or 20 years again when homosexuality was intensely stigmatized. Multiply that horrible feeling of stigma by a million, and add the threat of beheading/stoning. That's why I used AM to have discreet encounters..."

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/why-ashely-madison-leak-puts-thousands-women-lgbt-lives-risk

There are reports that the Saudi government is searching the AM leak for gay people in their country.

[Nye Bevan]

1. That had not occurred to me at all, and is horrible (nt)

[Lee-Lee]

2. People rarely ever take time to think about the unintended consequences of what they do.. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

3. A bit confused. Saudi Arabia, adultery is a major offense so how would a site devoted to infidelity

be considered a safe haven for subjects of the Kingdom?

[Behind the Aegis]

4. a little more info...

Adultery[edit]

In order for an individual to be convicted in a Saudi sharia court of adultery, he/she must confess to the act three times in front of the court, or four males or eight females who witnessed the sexual penetration must testify in front of the court.[20] The burden of proof is on the accuser. The execution method for adultery for men and women is stoning.[21] Sandra Mackey, author of The Saudis: Inside the Desert Kingdom, stated in 1987 that in Saudi Arabia, "unlike the tribal rights of a father to put to death a daughter who has violated her chastity, death sentences under Qur'anic law [for adultery] are extremely rare."[22] Mackey explained that "[c]harges of adultery are never made lightly. Since the penalty is so severe, women are protected from unfounded accusations of sexual misconduct."[22] During a human rights dialog with European jurists that took place several years before 1987, a Saudi delegate acknowledged that it is difficult to have a person convicted of adultery.[22] According to Mackey, in a 20-year period ending in 1987, one woman "is acknowledged to" have been executed by stoning for adultery.[22]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Saudi_Arabia#Adultery

It appears that even the suspicion of homosexuality is good enough for a charge.

[0rganism]

7. OP article says he used the site while in America

a very scary situation indeed

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Another poster reminded me of the hypocrisy factor, but my point is that if one's law is 'religious'

and that religion does in fact forbid adultery and even the idea of such a website there should be offense at simply using that website for whatever reason.

[Rex]

5. I doubt the hackers give a shit.

Probably moving on to bigger targets.

[cwydro]

6. I understood most female profiles on that site were fake,

so how are women in danger?

[Blue_Adept]

8. Well

[img][/img]

[cwydro]

9. Well, that was certainly nice and snarky,

but since I'm so dense, why don't you explain it to me?

I'm against this hacking btw because I think it harms everyone - just not getting this particular OP.

Please enlighten me o brilliant one.

[cwydro]

11. Lol, I see you don't care to enlighten my poor ignorant self.

[Blue_Adept]

12. I must apologize for not attending to your need to be responded to so quickly

I will ensure that I am chained to my desk going forward in order to respond to you.

[cwydro]

13. Oh, so still no answer??? NO explanation for poor lil ignorant me???

Reckon you're not so adept...even at being snarky.

You insult me, but cannot back up your insult.

I was responding to the OP in that thread, but you felt the need to come in and be rude to me? Got a problem with me? I don't know who you are, so I have no idea why you would. Perhaps you just like to be rude on the interwebs.

I'll give you an A for adept on the rudeness part. Does that make you happy?

Have a nice day now.

[joeybee12]

10. Well, color me naive...I just assumed this site

was for heterosexuals...Probably not anything in porn is exclusively gay or straight these days. I hope these people don't come to any harm.