Tech and discipline watch: The Ashley Madison Controversy

So is it or isn't it an offense under military law to sign up for the "Ashley Madison" adultery website? Many members of the U.S. armed forces did sign up . . . cleverly using their military email addresses. Shane Harris has this very good report about the services' response on The Daily Beast. Excerpt:

America’s fighting men and women might have been sweating bullets last week, after Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the armed services “are looking into” military email addresses that showed up in the leaked customer files of adultery website Ashley Madison.

But uniformed two-timers can stand at ease. Service officials told The Daily Beast that the mere presence of an email address isn’t enough to investigate someone for adultery—which the military considers a crime—and there are no plans to launch a military-wide manhunt for cheating spouses.

“There is no crime in signing up for a website,” said Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman.

“We hold all personnel to the highest standards in using government resources,” said Cmdr. William Marks, a Navy spokesman, “and if revealed government resources were improperly used, we will take appropriate action.”

Phew. That was close. But watch for people to get nonjudicial punishment or adverse personnel record entries for misuse of government computer systems. Query whether any senior civil servants are losing sleep over this as well?