Don’t be quick to assume during complex situations

Over 30 million alleged users of Ashley Madison, an extramarital affair-dating site, had their confidential information collected and released to the public by a group of hackers last Tuesday.

As similar occurrences of privacy invasion seem to be increasingly common in today’s society, so does the topic of victim shaming. It’s easy to say that this scandal proves that a person should be able to accept the consequences of their actions before getting involved in immoral, unethical or illegal behavior. It’s also easy to point fingers and condemn someone for their wrongdoing; however, taking a closer look at the situation proves that there are more important issues at hand.

Since Ashley Madison’s intent is to appeal exclusively to married couples seeking extramarital affairs, it can be wrongly assumed that 100 percent of the users included in the released information are people who have cheated on a spouse. Other factors come into play such as people pretending to be someone they’re not, people signing up out of curiosity but without intent to cheat on a spouse or even people signing up who aren’t married. Some people might not even be aware that their identify has been listed on the site, yet they have been bulked into the scandal anyway.

This instance of Internet hacking and exposing of information is about a lot more than just shaming people who might have cheated on their spouses; above all, it’s about Internet privacy. With that being said, the victims of infidelity within marriages should not be considered irrelevant or subordinate to the issue of Internet privacy that this situation has brought. However, with the ease at which the Internet allows people to take on any identify and access virtually any information, we should be careful and considerate before pointing fingers at people without fully understanding the situation.

Although it is easy to say that the only victims in this situation are the people who have been cheated on through this site, other victims, such as people who have had their identities used incorrectly through this situation, should also have out consideration. Like the victims of marital infidelity, the people who have been wrongly labeled as cheaters didn’t ask for their private lives to be brought to the public eye, but it happened anyway. Even the people who are at fault for being on the site solely for an affair will suffer irreparable damage after being brought into the public’s eye, but in the end, cheater never triumph anyway.
The main conclusion to draw from this situation can be argued that people should have caution when going about their daily lives, especially with the pace at which technology is evolving, but an underlying factor is that people shouldn’t be quick to victim shame people without fully understanding complex situations.