Sydney Newton
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In the case that you haven’t already heard about the Ashley Madison scandal, here is what has happened. The world’s most popular networking site for those looking to have an affair, Ashley Madison has been hacked. More than 37 million users’ personal information has been released to the public.

This scandal has raised, and will continue to raise, plenty of issues of regarding Internet security and privacy. Not to mention the repercussions of failed marriages and some divorces. There are even search engines that let you look up if your spouse has ever signed up to use the site.

With well more than 30 million users signed up for Ashley Madison, chances are this could affect someone you know. Even Josh Duggar, known for his role on the reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” has admitted to using the site.

There were supposedly thousands of government officials who had signed up, and even email addresses from members of the United Nations and the U.S. military that were reportedly on the list. Adultery can be a criminal offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Some of these people have said that others have used their email addresses to sign up for the site. However, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between people who actually used to site to commit affairs or the people who were framed.

These people could potentially lose their jobs and ruin their families. Can you really feel bad for them, though? It’s easy to find sympathy for the families affected but not for these people who were caught. Cheating is cheating, and most of the registered users on Ashley Madison were men: 86 percent. Plenty of women will now be suspicious and worried now that their husbands are adulterous.

This also brings up another concern. Is any of your information safe online? Ashley Madison claimed that for a fee of $19 it would delete your account and information. But it never fully deleted everything. It’s 2015, and the rules of privacy on the Internet are still debatable. For people who are doing things they probably shouldn’t be on the web, this hack will have them concerned. Granted, these people signed up to cheat on their spouses, but is it too far for all of their information to be released to the public?

The hackers who did this call themselves Impact Team, and they said in their statement on the day of the release, “Chances are your man signed up on the world’s biggest affair site but never had one. He just tried to. If that distinction matters.”

Does it matter? I would say it doesn’t. They signed up with these intentions, regardless if they went through with it. Are these people bad people? Are all people who make a decision like this bad people? This leak could potentially ruin lives, but then again, what did these people expect?

According to a study from Indiana University, up to 19 percent of women and 23 percent of men reported cheated on their significant others. A Huffington Post headline read: “Divorce Lawyers Brace For ‘Tsunami’ After Ashley Madison Hack.”

Affairs happen, with or without a website. But let’s hope maybe this will make some people think twice about their decisions online.