Larry Flynt, a defender of free speech and sexual freedom if there ever was one, has this advice for anyone worried by the hack of infidelity site Ashley Madison: Muzzle yourself.
"Don't do or say anything you wouldn't want to read about on the front page of the New York Times," said the founder of Hustler magazine and owner of businesses that sell sexually explicit videos online. '
It might be too late for many people who, lured by a supposed cloak of digital anonymity, have shared their innermost wishes, fetishes and fantasies on hook-up and porn sites. And those companies know that their digital troves of secrets are exactly what make them a target for emboldened hackers. For the online adult entertainment segment, which accounts for more than 10 percent of Internet traffic, the trend is particularly worrisome.
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"I don't know anyone that's prepared for something like this," said Joanna Angel, a famous punk porn entrepreneur who owns and sells adult films on the website Burning Angel.
The Ashley Madison hack is the second high-profile attack on a no-strings attached solicitation site this year. In March, Adult FriendFinder was the victim of a massive data breach, with hackers publishing details of 4 million subscribers on the Web.