--- title: A Fifth of Ottawa's Residents Are on Cheating Site Ashley Madison description: Canada's capital is it's most adulterous city, with 20% of residents reportedly signed up to a site that enables spouses to arrange affairs canonical: https://time.com/3967081/ottawa-canada-ashley-madison-cheating-infidelity-affair-hack/ author: Joanna Plucinska article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-22T04:34:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:29:19.333Z og:title: A Fifth of Ottawa's Residents Are on Ashley Madison og:description: 189,810 users in a city of 883,000? That's pretty spicy of you, Ottawa. og:url: https://time.com/3967081/ottawa-canada-ashley-madison-cheating-infidelity-affair-hack/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5f849642450e4e2/69885bdf0a4a2270499c53ef/177959999.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: HONG KONG-LIFESTYLE-INTERNET-SEX og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Fifth of Ottawa's Residents Are on Ashley Madison twitter:description: 189,810 users in a city of 883,000? That's pretty spicy of you, Ottawa. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5f849642450e4e2/69885bdf0a4a2270499c53ef/177959999.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Twenty Percent of the Canadian Capital's Residents Are Registered on Ashley Madison > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=b318d71f-f765-4cb9-b6c3-fb03bcf91a06&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Hackers Flirt With Exposing Cheating Site Ashley Madison [Watch (HLS stream): Hackers Flirt With Exposing Cheating Site Ashley Madison](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oKxZ0o3l.m3u8) (1:45)  _Published 2015-07-20. Hackers demanded that cheating site AshleyMadison.com be closed. The site is reportedly aiming for a $200 million IPO later this year._ by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Jul 22, 2015 4:34 AM UTC by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Jul 22, 2015 4:34 AM UTC Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, is also it’s most potentially adulterous, Reuters reports. Around 1 in 5 of the population is registered on Ashley Madison, a social network aimed at married people that touts “Life is short. Have an affair” as it’s slogan. The sleepy city, with a population of around 883,000 boasts 189,810 users, according to Avid Life Media, the Toronto-based company that owns the service. ALM faced a [huge hack](http://time.com/3964059/ashley-madison-affair-adultery-infidelity-cheating-hack/) this week from a group called the Impact Team, exposing 37 million users’ data in a demand to take down Ashley Madison and sister site EstablishedMen.com. The hackers referred to the site’s clients as “cheating dirtbags who deserve no discretion.” The site says that it has [suspended fees](http://time.com/3965641/ashley-madison-hack-delete/) for users who want to delete their accounts. Meanwhile, it seems like Ottawa’s politicians and civil servants are the ones having the most difficulty staying faithful — the most-registered postal code in the city represented Parliament Hill, the seat of power in the country, Reuters reports. ALM CEO Noel Biderman thinks “power, fame and opportunity” are the likely causes of infidelity in the city. In a newspaper report published earlier this year, Biderman admitted that capital cities usually top subscription rates for the adulterous service. Ottawa residents seem to think the reason is much simpler — everyone is just bored out of their minds. “Why do you think everyone goes to Montreal to have a good time?” Kary, who refused to give her last name, told Reuters. “Ottawa is the city fun forgot.” \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/21/us-ashleymadison-hack-ottawa-idUSKCN0PV26H20150721)\] ## Transcript Hackers dubbing themselves The Impact Team claim they have the information of all users of the site AshleyMadison. com. For those of you who might not know what this site is for, good for you. But let us explain. It's a site for adultery. Yes, you heard that right. The site motto is, life is short, have an affair. The impact team threatened to release the data of Ashley Madison's 37 million users, should the site's parent company Avid Life Media not permanently close down the site. Hackers are also calling for the shut down of another website under the ALM umbrella. Established Men, which touts itself as a website connecting young, beautiful women with succesful men. The Impact team hacked Ashley Madison because ALM allegedly lied to its clients about a full delete feature the company claimed completely erases all account data for $ 19. The hackers say that feature doesn't actually work, and allege that real names and addresses of users remain on servers even after a full delete. In a manifesto posted on the Ashley Madison homepage, hackers told ALM's chief technology officer they are his Worst nightmare, referencing a comment made saying, how a system hack is the CTO's biggest fear. The hack is reportedly being contained. A statement from ALM said, at this time, we've been able to secure sites, and close the unauthorized access points. A follow up statement said, all published user personally identifiable information was removed. Whew, carry on cheaters. Ashley Madison. com is the world's second largest paid dating website only trailing match. com, and besides of the ramifications of its data leak, this could have effect of the company's potential to launch an IPO. 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