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Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

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Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#121

Post by jchrisa »

humanrebar wrote: post #68
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then that's a breach of contract between two private parties which is of absolutely no relevance to outside observers. It is the married couple's prerogative to undergo court procedure if they so desire. Being on AM wouldn't solely have been about breaking commitment. From what I recall, it became an inadvertent hub for gay dating due to its extraordinary gender/sex imbalance. AM's entire business practice was about…

> Then that's a breach of contract between two private parties which is of absolutely no relevance to outside observers. That's one way to look at things. I happen to have a different philosophy about marriage, that it actually does affect other people, and since you're so understanding, I'm sure you'll grant that my philosophy is equally valid.

A little reading would let you know that there is a significant chunk of happily married people who don't think monogamy is for them. They think honesty is more important. I don't know if these folks are AM users or if they've got a better scene.

Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#122

Post by maaku »

x0x0 wrote: post #65
mahyarm wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, how the hell would you receive your criminal payment of $10mm? How would your life be afterwards? You don't think the FBI or whoever else will be spending $2mm to catch you, and a big money payment like that will be the way to track you?

in order: how to get the money: bitcoin, move to russia and use wire transfers, launder it through lawyers, etc life afterwards: one hell of a lot richer fbi: part of the agreement is ashley doesn't go to the fbi, again, with the full data release hanging over their heads. And no, I don't think the fbi would be particularly motivated. They have plenty on their plates. Because, crucially, Ashley Madison wants this to…

The FBI wouldn't want to be involved either. What high-level bureaucrat wants to defend themselves in front of a congressional investigation about why they spent taxpayer dollars keeping marriage infidelities private instead of X, forall X they could have been working on instead?

Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#123

Post by vezzy-fnord »

nostrebored wrote: post #115
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the same light, let's not pretend that the anonymity of the internet hasn't facilitated people comitting adultery. In the same light, let's not pretend that the anonymity of the Internet hasn't facilitated people engaging in terrorist activity and drug trade. When do we build the firewall, captain?

So you're going to let my intent argument stand? We build the firewall around prosocial behavior. I think that if the names of all of the coke dealers selling their wares through TSR came out today I would not be upset either, because it's a scummy, exploitative industry. If you're breaking a social contract, my expectation of other people upholding their social contracts with you, in that area, are very slim.

The whole purpose of a judicial system is that blanket vigilantism based on "social contracts" is ineffective and prone to high margins of error. I understand that you do not share this belief and instead want to mold people around allegedly "prosocial" behavior, even if it's a legal contract outside your jurisdiction as a natural person. We will have to disagree and cut the argument here.

Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#125

Post by Nadya »

watty wrote: post #105
Nadya wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I'm 85% sure that ${User} is connected to a CP ring in some way. Should I publicly out ${User} even though I could be wrong and let them suffer the ramifications that it causes? If they lose their job, spouse, shunned by family, receive death threats, and have an internet hate mob trying to find where they live because the evidence was "leaning towards them" does that make it okay for me to call them out as being…

If you think there's an 85% chance that Zu was somehow connected to the AM hack then you didn't read the article.

If you think there's a 100% chance Zu is connected to the AM hack then you need to re-read the article.

Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#126

Post by bas »

x5n1 wrote: post #40
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue the opposite. The AM hack hasn't helped at all, since enough people view it as a just retribution due to it being about a pet moral value that is held dear, namely marital fidelity. And to others, it's all a big joke. The cheating cheaters (who likely never got the opportunity to cheat) have been named and shamed, and because of those asserting that it's acceptable to do this if it strokes their personal mo…

The future is a future where no semblance of privacy exists. In the year 3000: "Truth about the ugliness of the human race will finally be revealed when every single detail about anyone's life is public knowledge available to all."

1998 is calling: http://www.davidbrin.com/transparentsociety.html

Also, from 1999, "You have zero privacy anyway, ... Get over it." (Scott McNealy - http://archive.wired.com/politics/law/news/1999/01/17538)

Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#127

Post by hobo_mark »

dopamean wrote: post #86
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's art imitating life. Old school warez, demoscene and hacker groups have always had a very "campy" countercultural aesthetic to them. Hackers the film doesn't hold a candle to the real-life cDc. These types of groups are a dying breed, though.

cDc == cult of the dead cow? I haven't seen them referenced in ages. Probably since my own arrest actually.

Uh...story time?

Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#128

Post by inversionOf »

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #18
smtddr wrote: post #2

I don't condone this hack, but morals/ethics aside for a moment: The one positive thing this hack has done is really give serious ammo to the battle for online privacy, because the demographic hit by this hack is the most politically & economically powerful demographic in the world....

I'd argue the opposite. The AM hack hasn't helped at all, since enough people view it as a just retribution due to it being about a pet moral value that is held dear, namely marital fidelity. And to others, it's all a big joke. The cheating cheaters (who likely never got the opportunity to cheat) have been named and shamed, and because of those asserting that it's acceptable to do this if it strokes their personal mo…

The data is out there. There was literally no way to stop it. Whether people find glee in it or not is entirely irrelevant, and this notion that if we all just held up our nose no privacy would be invaded is unreasonable.

And it's worth noting that the "pet moral value" that people seem the most outraged about is honesty, however much people try to load it with their own hangups. If this was a site for open marriages, tinder hookups, or anything of the sort, I doubt it would have gotten much attention at all. Instead it's a site for people a) lying to their partner, or b) lying to everyone else. Some of the most reported cases have been about raw hypocrisy.

This will absolutely make everyone pause when offering up data to third parties though, and really that couldn't come quickly enough. Whenever there is a password database dump, one of the things I've always found most remarkable are the number of people inconvenienced because they use the same password everywhere, trusting their life to every random service they used. Similarly, trusting critical, compromising data to some hookup app -- who have competencies and auditing and archiving that you have no notions about -- seems insane, but it has become an online norm. Breaches like this may make people more considerate of the value of their own data.

Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#129

Post by 0x4a42 »

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #22
philangist wrote: post #14

> They said Avid Life employees first learned about the breach on July 12 (seven days before my initial story) when they came into work, turned on their computers and saw a threatening message from the Impact Team accompanied by the anthem “Thunderstruck” by Australian rock band AC/DC playing in the background. This reads like a scene straight out of Hackers or some other campy tech movie. Life imitates art.

It's art imitating life. Old school warez, demoscene and hacker groups have always had a very "campy" countercultural aesthetic to them. Hackers the film doesn't hold a candle to the real-life cDc. These types of groups are a dying breed, though.

The good old times. :)

Re: Who Hacked Ashley Madison?

#130

Post by walshemj »

smtddr wrote: post #2

I don't condone this hack, but morals/ethics aside for a moment: The one positive thing this hack has done is really give serious ammo to the battle for online privacy, because the demographic hit by this hack is the most politically & economically powerful demographic in the world....

I could defiantly see some stricter privacy laws being passed - also might I'mpact google etc if they have to start vetting staff in the same way big telcos do.

Back in my BT days I knew team leaders who had to get PV'd (aka TS) clearance.

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