For those who are unaware, Ashley Madison is a website on the Internet famously known for openly encouraging the immoral act of having an affair. The website matches users, who then proceed to carrying out the affair if they please. Although more people are having affairs now than ever before, the act is still incredibly unethical and should not be pursued. Nonetheless, Ashley Madison has taken the increased popularity of the act and made a business out of it.
Yes, that’s right, you read it correctly. Guaranteed Affairs! No matter what you look like!
From a personal perspective, seeing a sign like this would be quite appalling. This is Ashley Madison’s slogan: “Life is short. Have an affair.” Why should a company with this kind of value proposition be allowed to operate? So much pain can be inflicted as a result of affairs; it can ruin relationships and tear apart families. Although it is not illegal, it is extremely inhumane and unprincipled, and should definitely be publicly boycotted or opposed in some way.
In July, earlier this year, a group of hackers managed to hack into Ashley Madison’s website and leaked many names of customers of the company, causing a wave of controversy of ethics. Although hacking into a company’s website to retrieve information is illegal, some people believe it was done with good intentions of revealing the truth to victims of the affairs. Tanner Davies elaborates on the ethics regarding the hacking of Ashley Madison in his blog post, questioning whether the hacking and releasing of this information was illegal. Since there are so many angles that a situation can be viewed from, Tanner believes that it may have been for the greater good of society. I personally agree with Tanner, especially after learning about business ethics in COMM 101. The hackers created a Robin Hood-like scenario, where they stole (information) from the the immoral people having affairs (the rich) and revealed it to the public (the poor).
References: https://blogs.ubc.ca/tannerdavies/, http://www.thestar.com/news/privacy-blog/2015/11/ashley-madison-customers-complain-of-blackmail-after-hack.html