Privacy on adult sites: breaches, billing and burner details

Assume that anything you give an adult site could become public one day. That isn't paranoia; it has already happened at enormous scale.

What has leaked before

• Ashley Madison, 2015: hackers published account and profile data on 36 million users. The FTC found that users who had paid $19 for "Full Delete" had their data kept anyway.
• FriendFinder Networks, 2016: about 412 million accounts across its sites were exposed, including millions that users had deleted.

Five habits

1. A separate email used only for adult sites, with no real name in the address.
2. A username you've never used elsewhere. Reused handles are how leaks get matched to people.
3. No face photos on profiles you wouldn't want public, and no photos taken at home that show the room.
4. Check the billing descriptor before you pay: the name that shows on your statement.
5. Don't trust "delete account". Delete what you can first (photos, messages), then the account.

For more on statement names and paying discreetly, see SluttyGirls' discreet billing guide. If someone threatens to share images of you, don't pay: the FTC explains what to do.