The Ashley Madison conundrum.

Recently, the dating website dedicated to cheaters, Ashley Madison, was hacked. The hackers took the names of the cheaters, some 37 million of them, and threatened to release all of them unless the website is shut down:

The hackers called themselves the "Impact Team," and the potential release includes "profiles with all the customers' secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails."

In a statement, Avid Life Media, the parent company, said: "At this time, we have been able to secure our sites, and close the unauthorized access points. We are working with law enforcement agencies, which are investigating this criminal act."

There's the crux. Cheating is immoral. Seeing a site promoting it and profiting off of it is despicable. But it is not illegal. Hacking is illegal. At least this type of hacking is - it's theft. And who appointed these moral crusaders judge and jury?

I'd be happy if the website was gone. But it's a free country. If cheating is to be stopped, it must be through teaching people about morality, not through coercion, blackmail or force.