LONDON (AP) – Husbands and wives across the world are waking up to their partners’ extramarital affairs after a catastrophic leak at adultery website Ashley Madison spewed electronic evidence of infidelity across the Internet.
Online forums were buzzing Thursday with users claiming to have found evidence that their significant others were on the site. In Britain and Israel, parliamentarians have been put on the defensive after their email addresses were identified in the trove. And in Australia, one woman appeared to learn – live on air – that her husband’s details were registered with the site.
Family law experts are divided on the likely offline impact of the leak, but Los Angeles-based divorce lawyer Steve Mindel predicted an uptick in business for him and his colleagues.
“We’re all saying: ‘It’s going to be Christmas in September,'” Mindel said. “Pretty soon all of this stuff is going to surface and there’s going to be a lot of filings for divorce directly as a result of this.”
Ashley Madison marketed itself as the premier venue for cheating spouses before data stolen by hackers started spreading across the Internet earlier this week. The prospect of finding the name of a loved one or an acquaintance amid the site’s more than 35 million registered members has drawn strong interest worldwide.