Ashley Madison: “Life is short, have an affair”
A hook up website that was specifically designed to helped individuals who wanted to cheat on their partners, Ashley Madison was banned in Singapore over two years ago, because the government believed that it went against “family values and public morality”.
The website was launched in 2001 with the slogan “Life is short. Have an Affair”. Owned by Avid Media Life, it promoted “married dating, discreet encounters and extramarital affairs”.
In early August 2015, a hacker group identifying itself as the “Impact Team” hacked the website, stole and then released the emails and data of close to 32 million members of the site — this information was made public online.
The data dump on the so-called “dark web” includes information such as payment transactions, email addresses, GPS coordinates, and phone numbers of those who had registered on the website.
Ashley Madison is now being sued for failing to protect the privacy of its “clients”.
The Ashley Madison data leak “has had wide-ranging consequences, especially in the USA and Canada, where two suicides have been linked to the leak.”
These “wide-ranging consequences” encompass Singapore too, as you will find out below.
Ashley Madison data leak: Adultery promoting website Ashley Madison has been hacked and sued.
Data leak includes thousands of .sg email ids
According to a New Paper report, over 4,700 emails with the “.sg” suffix (indicating a Singapore domain address), have been found among the leaked Ashley Madison client data. These include 38 addresses ending in “.edu.sg”, which “typically means the address belongs to students, teachers and faculty members of local education institutions.”
However, the report points out that since Ashley Madison does not need a verification of the e-mail (neither do they require a valid e-mail address), this means that “anyone can enter an e-mail address, even if he or she doesn’t own it.”
The news report refers to Mr Justin Tan, an associate lawyer in Trident Law Group, who has said it is illegal to use someone else’s e-mail address to register for services under Singapore’s Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act.
Some of the e-mail addresses listed on the site are also said to be fake, such as one of the two “.gov.sg” which had a “cpib.gov.sg” domain. A spokesman for the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) has clarified that the address did not exist in its system.
Also interestingly, 90% to 95% of Ashley Madison’s users are male. And recent reports based on investigative journalism indicate that “Ashley Madison is a site where tens of millions of men write mail, chat, and spend money for women who aren’t there.” Essentially, most of the female profiles on the site are fake.
How do Singaporean women feel about adultery? Find out on the next page.
If you are a cheating husband, you’ll be lucky to escape with a squeeze of your ear by your spouse – in a poll, the majority of women said they will not tolerate adultery.
Singaporean wives unwilling to tolerate adultery
Singaporean men take heed. You should know that your wives are unwilling to tolerate adultery.
In a poll conducted by theAsianparent, 33.4% of respondents (the majority of total participants) unhesitatingly voted that they would divorce their husbands in the event of adultery.
Twenty-seven percent of women said they would investigate the matter, 13% are willing to forgive their cheating spouses, and a small but dangerous number of ladies will not think twice about punishing their cheating men (ouch).
Meanwhile, 20% of women will “punish, divorce, and then forgive” their adulterous partners.
Adultery can affect families – seek professional help to guide you.
The lesson learnt?
The reasons for a person to cheat on their partner are varied and can never be identified in black and white terms. Let’s just say that there are many shades of grey involved.
If we were flippant, we could tell you to watch out if you are one of those people on this list whose partners won’t hesitate to punish you. After all, “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, they say.
However, we are not flippant and we understand that the outcome of adultery can have devastating effects at both individual and family levels (especially if there are kids involved).
So if the Ashley Madison leaked list has affected you or someone known to you in some way, know that plenty of help is available to you through a Family Service Centre, or any other counselling service. With this help, all parties involved and affected can be assisted to move on and move forward in a positive direction.
Share your thoughts in the comment box below: Why do you think websites such as Ashley Madison are created in the first place? How is it any different from a legalised sex trade? Let’s get a discussion happening…