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ByRaphaelSatter The Associated Press LONDON Hackerssaythey have exposed unfaithful partners across the world, posting what they said were the personal details of millions of people regis- tered with cheating website Ashley Madison. A message posted by the hackers alongside their massive trove accused Ash- ley Madison's owners of de- ceit and incompetence and said the company had re- fused to bow to their de- mands to close the site. "Now everyone gets to see their data," the state- ment said. Ashley Madison has long courted attention with its claim to be the Internet's leading facilitator of extra- marital liaisons, boasting of having nearly 39 million members and that "thou- sands of cheating wives and cheating husbands sign up every day looking for an affair." Its owner, Toronto-based Avid Life Media Inc., has previously acknowledged suffering an electronic break-in and said in a state- ment Tuesday it was inves- tigating the hackers' claim. U.S. and Canadian law en- forcement are involved in the probe, the company said. The Associated Press wasn't immediately able to determine the authen- ticity of the leaked files, al- though many analysts who have scanned the data be- lieve it is genuine. TrustedSec Chief Exec- utive Dave Kennedy said the information dump in- cluded full names, pass- words, street addresses, credit card information and "an extensive amount of internal data." In a sep- arate blog, Errata Secu- rity Chief Executive Rob Graham said the informa- tion released included de- tails such as users' height, weight and GPS coordi- nates. He said men out- numbered women on the service five-to-one. Avid Life Media declined to comment Wednesday beyond its statement. The hackers also didn't imme- diately return emails. The prospect of millions of adulterous partners be- ing publicly shamed drew widespread attention but the sheer size of the data- base — and the technical savvy needed to navigate it — means it's unlikely to lead to an immediate rush to divorce courts. "Unless this Ashley Madison information be- comes very easily accessi- ble and searchable, I think it is unlikely that anyone but the most paranoid or suspecting spouses will bother to seek out this in- formation," New York di- vorce attorney Michael DiFalco said in an email. "There are much simpler ways to confirm their sus- picions." Although Graham and others said many of the Ashley Madison profiles appeared to be bogus, it's clear the leak was huge. Troy Hunt, who runs a website that warns people when their private infor- mation is exposed online, said nearly 5,000 users had received alerts stemming from the breach. Although many may have signed up out of cu- riosity and some have lit- tle more to fear than em- barrassment, the conse- quences for others could reverberate beyond their marriages. The French leak monitoring firm Cy- belAngel said it counted 1,200 email addresses in the data dump with the .sa suffix, suggesting users were connected to Saudi Arabia, where adultery is punishable by death. CybelAngel also said it counted some 15,000 .gov or .mil addresses in the dump, suggesting that American soldiers, sailors and government employees had opened themselves up to possible blackmail. Using a gov- ernment email to regis- ter for an adultery web- site may seem foolish, but CybelAngel Vice President of Operations Damien Da- museau said there was a certain logic to it. Using a professional address, he said, keeps the mes- sages out of personal ac- counts "where their part- ner might see them." "It's not that dumb," Da- museau said. How many of the peo- ple registered with Ash- ley Madison actually used the site to seek sex outside their marriage is an unre- solved question. But what- ever the final number, the breach is still a humbling moment for Ashley Madi- son, which had made dis- cretion a key selling point. In a television interview last year, Chief Executive Noel Biderman described the company's servers as "kind of untouchable." The hackers' motives aren't entirely clear, al- though they have accused Ashley Madison of creat- ing fake female profiles and of keeping users' informa- tion on file even after they paid to have it deleted. In its statement, Avid Life Me- dia accused the hackers of seeking to impose "a per- sonal notion of virtue on all of society." Graham, the security ex- pert, had a simpler theory. "In all probability, their motivation is that #1 it's fun, and #2 because they can," he wrote. ASHLEY MADISON Hackers expose millions on cheating site LEEJIN-MAN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Ashley Madison's Korean web site is shown on a computer screen in Seoul, South Korea. By Youkyung Lee The Associated Press SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA Ev- ery evening, 14-year-old Kim Sung-jinordersfriedchicken, delivery pizza or Chinese food to eat in a small room in his family's home south of Seoul. He gorges on food as he chats before a live cam- era with hundreds, some- times thousands, of teenag- ers watching. That's the show, and it makes Kim money: 2 mil- lion won ($1,700) in his most successful episode. Better known to his view- ers by the nickname Patoo, he is one of the youngest broadcasters on Afreeca TV, an app for live-broadcasting video online. Kim, who has a delicate physique, has been broad- casting himself eating al- most every evening since he was 11. Sometimes he invites friends to eat with him. To add fun, he once wore a blonde wig and dressed as a woman. While the Internet has been making stars for years — from bloggers to gam- ers who play for millions of YouTube viewers — out- siders may find it puzzling, if not outright bizarre, for young people to spend hours watching someone eating. But in South Korea, Afreeca TV has become a big player in the Internet subculture and a crucial part of social life for teens. Shows like Kim's are known as "Meok Bang," a mash-up Korean word of broadcast and eating. They are the most popular and of- ten most profitable among some 5,000 live shows that are aired live at any given moment on Afreeca TV. Kim started the show essentially to find some- one to eat with. The show also brought him unex- pected joy: He said that even though he's just an or- dinary teenager, "people say hello to me on the street." Many connect the popu- larity of Meok Bang to the increasing number of South Koreans who live alone, and to the strong social aspects of food in this society. "Even if it is online, when someone talks while eat- ing, the same words feel much more intimate," said Ahn Joon-soo, an executive at Afreeca TV. He noted South Koreans' common habit of bidding farewell to friends by saying, "Let's eat together next time," even when they don't literally mean it. YOUNG BROADCASTER JULIE YOON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Kim Sung-jin, 14, broadcasts himself eating delivery Chinese food in his room at home in Bucheon, south of Seoul, South Korea. A meal and a webcam form unlikely recipe for S. Korean fame Deliverythesedaysallschoolyear,or Delivery start date _________________ Delivery stop date _________________ CLASSROOM NEWSPAPER ORDER FORM Newsforaday...Learningforalifetime! NEWSPAPERS ARE PROVIDED AT NO CHARGE* Number of copies per delivery(minimum10) Circle the days below on which you would like the newspaper delivered: Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Select as many days as you would like. Pleasesendalistofanynondeliverydates along with this order form. 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