XPost: wi.general, alt.fashion, can.motss   
   XPost: rec.arts.tv.news.oreilly-factor   
   From: lololol@divorces.com   
      
   WASHINGTON — Hundreds of U.S. government employees — including   
   some with sensitive jobs in the White House, Congress and law   
   enforcement agencies — used Internet connections in their   
   federal offices to access and pay membership fees to the   
   cheating website Ashley Madison, The Associated Press has   
   learned.   
      
   The AP traced many of the accounts exposed by hackers back to   
   federal workers. They included at least two assistant U.S.   
   attorneys; an information technology administrator in the   
   Executive Office of the President; a division chief, an   
   investigator and a trial attorney in the Justice Department; a   
   government hacker at the Homeland Security Department and   
   another DHS employee who indicated he worked on a U.S.   
   counterterrorism response team.   
      
   Few actually paid for their services with their government email   
   accounts. But AP traced their government Internet connections —   
   logged by the website over five years — and reviewed their   
   credit-card transactions to identify them. They included workers   
   at more than two dozen Obama administration agencies, including   
   the departments of State, Defense, Justice, Energy, Treasury,   
   Transportation and Homeland Security. Others came from House or   
   Senate computer networks.   
      
   The AP is not naming the government subscribers it found because   
   they are not elected officials or accused of a crime.   
      
   Hackers this week released detailed records on millions of   
   people registered with the website one month after the break-in   
   at Ashley Madison’s parent company, Toronto-based Avid Life   
   Media Inc. The website — whose slogan is, “Life is short. Have   
   an affair” — is marketed to facilitate extramarital affairs.   
      
   Many federal customers appeared to use non-government email   
   addresses with handles such as “sexlessmarriage,”   
   ‘’soontobesingle” or “latinlovers.” Some Justice Department   
   employees appeared to use pre-paid credit cards to help preserve   
   their anonymity but connected to the service from their office   
   computers.   
      
   “I was doing some things I shouldn’t have been doing,” a Justice   
   Department investigator told the AP. Asked about the threat of   
   blackmail, the investigator said if prompted he would reveal his   
   actions to his family and employer to prevent it. “I’ve worked   
   too hard all my life to be a victim of blackmail. That wouldn’t   
   happen,” he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he   
   was deeply embarrassed and not authorized by the government to   
   speak to reporters using his name.   
      
   The AP’s analysis also found hundreds of transactions associated   
   with Department of Defense networks, either at the Pentagon or   
   from armed services connections elsewhere.   
      
   Defense Secretary Ash Carter confirmed the Pentagon was looking   
   into the list of people who used military email addresses.   
   Adultery can be a criminal offense under the Uniform Code of   
   Military Justice.   
      
   “I’m aware it,” Carter said. “Of course it’s an issue because   
   conduct is very important. And we expect good conduct on the   
   part of our people. ... The services are looking into it and as   
   well they should be. Absolutely.”   
      
   The AP’s review was the first to reveal that federal workers   
   used their office systems to access the site, based on their   
   Internet Protocol addresses associated with credit card   
   transactions. It focused on searching for government employees   
   in especially sensitive positions who could perhaps become   
   blackmail targets. The government hacker at the Homeland   
   Security Department, who did not respond to phone or email   
   messages, included photographs of his wife and infant son on his   
   Facebook page.   
      
   One assistant U.S. attorney declined through a spokesman to   
   speak to the AP, and another did not return phone or email   
   messages.   
      
   A White House spokesman said Thursday he could not immediately   
   comment on the matter. The IT administrator in the White House   
   did not return email messages.   
      
   Federal policies vary for employees by agency as to whether they   
   would be permitted during work hours to use websites like Ashley   
   Madison, which could fall under the same category as dating   
   websites. But it raises questions about what personal business   
   is acceptable — and what websites are OK to visit — for   
   government workers on taxpayer time, especially employees who   
   could face blackmail.   
      
   The Homeland Security Department rules for use of work computers   
   say the devices should be used for only for official purposes,   
   though “limited personal use is authorized as long as this use   
   does not interfere with official duties or cause degradation of   
   network services.” Employees are barred from using government   
   computers to access “inappropriate sites” including those that   
   are “obscene, hateful, harmful, malicious, hostile, threatening,   
   abusive, vulgar, defamatory, profane, or racially, sexually, or   
   ethnically objectionable.”   
      
   The hackers who took credit for the break-in had accused the   
   website’s owners of deceit and incompetence, and said the   
   company refused to bow to their demands to close the site. Avid   
   Life released a statement calling the hackers criminals. It   
   added that law enforcement in both the U.S. and Canada is   
   investigating and declined comment beyond its statement Tuesday   
   that it was investigating the hackers’ claims.   
      
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/cheating-   
   website-subscribers-included-wh-congress-   
   workers/2015/08/20/9b6babea-47a7-11e5-9f53-   
   d1e3ddfd0cda_story.html   
      
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)