Intersection you mean.

I'm not sure what compels people to download and look at any of these leaks.

There's a real dichotomy between the mostly universal opinion on here that ad tracking is a terrible evil, but downloading and investigating people's private data that was illegally obtained and distributed is okay.

It's interesting to look at? I don't think most people looking at the leaks are trying to profit (exception of people exploiting people based on the data). Ad systems however, are always looking at the data as a way to increase profits.

So violating people's personal privacy is okay if it's interesting to look at? I guess people who put hidden cameras in bathrooms feel the same way as you.

No, I'm saying the person who did the leak or placed the camera did the breach of privacy. You want to say everyone looking at is also breaching the privacy. I'd say they are simply looking at the result of a breach not committing another one.

"There's a real dichotomy between the mostly universal opinion on here that ad tracking is a terrible evil, but downloading and investigating people's private data that was illegally obtained and distributed is okay."

What differs between these two is that the ad system is the person placing the camera, watching the video and distributing. The interested person is simply watching the video. Sure that doesn't seem fair to the victim but if they are not trying to exploit the victim I don't think it's a problem.

subie didn't claim it was okay. It was just a guess at the implied question in "I'm not sure what compels people to download and look at any of these leaks."

Crooks will look at it to see what they can get out of it. Passwords, email, blackmail material. If nobody benevolent looks at it would we ever know what was actually leaked?

After previous leaks, the data has been looked over to produce lists of compromised accounts which at least one website lets you search to know if your account was in the leak (Kotaku/Gawker leaked my shit years ago). The data can be used to provide stats on the most common passwords.

Often vegetarians will eat meat that was served to them by mistake. They don't want to contribute to demand for meat products, but if one has already been served to them it can't be taken back. There's no further harm in eating it.

> the mostly universal opinion ... downloading and investigating people's private data that was illegally obtained and distributed is okay

[citation needed]

It's a prevalent cadence when the topic comes up. Granted, people opposed to ad tracking are likely more vocal on the topic than people for it.

not much of a "project"... seems like a simple SQL query will reveal the intersection.

That was my first thought, too. ^^