Demands of Privacy and Morality

There are certain things I want to keep private: my financial transactions, alcohol use, calorie intake. That being said, I’m making a willful decision in exposure when i use tools like Venmo, Untappd, and MyFitnessPal.

However, these are decisions I can make for myself. Are people not allowed to have any privacy anymore because some group doesn't approve? AshleyMadison is an appalling concept but it's a private business involving consenting adults. Their recent hack (and subsequent controversy) has millions of people talking about privacy, adultery, and the morality of it all.

AshleyMadison did not create a new problem. These are practices that are common to humanity since the dawn of time.  Problematic, self-harming practices are still common all over the world. What’s more disconcerting is that many of these individuals don't have the emotional capacity to talk to their partners or even admit to themselves that what they’re doing is harmful. This group that has outed millions of users with the intention of doing ‘good’, 

Everyone’s moral compasses are different. Demanding others to have the same morality as yours is what starts wars.  Although I don’t predict AshleyMadison will result in a war (digital or real), the internet has brought us closer than we ever expected. We should be careful in our demands of our neighbors, peers, and strangers.