People are getting bored with general dating apps Tinder and Match.com these days, so niche dating sites have become more popular in recent years. Whether you're a metalhead, cat owner or teetotal, there's probably a dating app where you can find a like-minded partner. One such site is MaiOtaku, where anime fans can meet, chat and date with one another. Except a lot of users registered on MaiOtaku didn't even sign up for it themselves.
A user in the Minnesota Cosplayers Facebook group posted that they found four MaiOtaku accounts registered to their email address after hitting the "forgot username" button on their website. It turns out people who signed up for Animecon.org events AniMinneapolis or Meta Con in the past have had their names, email addresses and credit card information imported to the dating site without their consent, even those under 18.
Ryan Kopf, CEO of MaiOtaku and Animecon.org's parent company Chrono Pop LLC with a history of sexual assault allegations, denied that he stole dataο»Ώ from con attendees. He claims that in accordance with their privacy policy, Chrono Pop's services use a Single-Sign-On system where data entered into one website during registration (e.g. signing up to one of their cons) automatically creates an account on another using the same information (such as MaiOtaku). However, the account isn't activated until the user manually signs in using the information they registered with in the first place, meaning con attendees signing in to find out if an profile was made with their data are simply activating their accounts. He also stresses that payment and credit card information is secure and that MaiOtaku is a free website unless users choose to pay to upgrade your account.
My day job is in cybersecurity so I know how important it is to make sure your data is under control. What do you guys think? Is the Single-Sign-On system a good idea or has it just caused unecessary problems? Should Kopf be trusted? Let us know below!
