ashley madison.com is a website that helps married people hook up (have a romantic encounter) with other married people, i.e. cheat (be unfaithful). the slogan for the site is
life is short, have an affair
affair has many applications, but on the ashley madison site, the idea is a hook up by a married person outside of their marriage.
ashleymadison.com has been trending globally this week. london24.com explained
ashley madison, which touts itself as the “world’s leading extra-marital dating site” was hacked this week, and the personal details of 37 million users stolen.
tout means promote. the headline of the article reads
Ashley Madison security breach exposes adulterers to blackmail risk
adultery is infidelity. it’s a little surprising to see it used so widely in the reporting of this story. it sounds biblical. breach is a vulnerability or a break. blackmail means extortion.
a blackmail note from the famous series desperate housewives
says a previously unknown group of hackers, the impact team, is responsible and they are
threatening to publish user data unless the site shuts down
threaten means the impact team is trying to scare ashley madison and their users with the possiblity of exposing their membership on the site.
the impact team is demanding that avid life media, the owner of ashleymadison.com, take the site down. their complaint is that the site charges users $19 to fully delete an account, but does not actually remove all data. user data may include sexual fantasies, sexual chats and naked photos as well as the user’s real name and address.
avid life media has not taken down the site, but
ashley madison is allowing all members to fully delete their profiles without charge in the aftermath of a serious data breach that threatens the site’s future.
aftermath is what is left after a disaster.
startup village, based in kochi, india, helps new tech businesses get started (ijtihadpost.wordpress.com)
heather mallick of the toronto star observes
isn’t it odd when a tech company’s motherlode, which is its database, becomes its greatest liability. if only we didn’t know so much about our customers, i have never heard a digital startup say.
odd means strange, weird. motherlode refers to the most valuable asset. startup is a new business.
a visual of adultery/cheating
mallick also questions the decision making of ashley madison users
i wonder about adultery………why do people think they’ll get away with it? why lie? especially when it’s all online.
37 million married people, most of them in north america, risked everything — a spouse’s love, the innocence of children, parental regard, the house, the car, and possibly the career — to sign up on ashleymadison.com, the uber-for-adulterers website that sets up secret affairs.
get away with means not getting caught or suffering no consequences. spouse is a gender neutral word for husband or wife. regard means admiration or respect. sign up means register or create an account. set up means arrange.
the title of this popular series is another typical way to use the phrasal verb get away with
and some of the ethical perspectives of the hack
a company that makes its money from encouraging duplicity and betrayal is somewhat likely to reflect these values in its operations. maybe users should have seen this coming.
the duplicities of cheating partners might be reprehensible – but the complexities of human relations are such that no hacker or public audience has any right to stand in moral judgement
betrayal means to be unfaithful, sell out or deceive. should have seen this coming is a good example of how to use should in the past (3rd conditional) and as frequently is the case, indicates an error. moral means virtuous or correct and is related to ethics.
judas iscariot betrayed jesus christ with a kiss. it wasn’t adultery though.
what do u think about the ashley madison hack? is it ironic justice? or do cheating spouses deserve privacy too? share your feelings under leave a reply
