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Case No. 2:15-cv-01768-DJH KRONENBERGER DECL. IN SUPPORT OF

EX PARTE APP. FOR TRO

KRONENBERGER ROSENFELD, LLP

Karl S. Kronenberger (CA Bar No. 226112)

Jeffrey M. Rosenfeld (CA Bar No. 222187)

Virginia A. Sanderson (CA Bar No. 240241)

150 Post Street, Suite 520

San Francisco, CA 94108

Telephone: (415) 955-1155

Facsimile: (415) 955-1158

karl@KRInternetLaw.com

jeff@KRInternetLaw.com

ginny@KRInternetLaw.com

Attorneys for Plaintiffs

John Doe 1, John Doe 2, and John Doe 3

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

John Doe 1, an individual; John Doe 2, an 

individual; and John Doe 3, an individual;

Plaintiffs,

v.

GoDaddy.com, LLC, a Delaware 

corporation; Amazon Web Services, Inc., 

a Delaware corporation; John Roe 1, d/b/a 

<ashleymadisonpowersearch.com> and 

<adulterysearch.com>; John Roe 2, d/b/a 

<ashleymadisoninvestigations.com>; John 

Roe 3, d/b/a <greyhatpro.com>; and Roes 

4–20, inclusive,

Defendants.

Case No. 2:15-cv-01768-DJH

DECLARATION OF KARL S. 

KRONENBERGER IN SUPPORT 

OF PLAINTIFFS’ EX PARTE

APPLICATION FOR 

TEMPORARY RESTRAINING 

ORDER

Case 2:15-cv-01768-DJH Document 16 Filed 09/11/15 Page 1 of 7
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Case No. 2:15-cv-01768-DJH 1 KRONENBERGER DECL. IN SUPPORT OF

EX PARTE APP. FOR TRO

I, Karl S. Kronenberger, declare as follows:

1. I am an attorney admitted to practice law in the State of California, and I am 

admitted to appear before this Court in the above-captioned matter on a pro hac vice basis. 

I am a partner at the law firm of Kronenberger Rosenfeld, LLP (the “Firm”), which is 

counsel of record for Plaintiffs John Doe 1, John Doe 2, and John Doe 3. Unless 

otherwise stated, I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth in this declaration. 

2. As part of my firm’s engagement with Plaintiffs John Doe 1, John Doe 2, 

and John Doe 3, each Plaintiff disclosed his identity to my Firm with the understanding 

that the Firm would seek to preserve their identities under the relevant Ninth Circuit 

authority that allows for parties to appear pseudonymously in litigation in certain 

circumstances. See Does I thru XXIII v. Advanced Textile Corp., 214 F.3d 1058, 1067 (9th 

Cir. 2000). 

3. Before filing this lawsuit, I reviewed the Ashley Madison website located at 

<downlow.ashleymadison.com>, the services the website purports to offer, and the process 

for enrolling in/acquiring the website’s services. Based on my review of the Ashley 

Madison website, I determined that Ashley Madison is a dating website and social 

networking service marketed toward people who are married or in a committed 

relationship. Ashley Madison requires its users to submit personal information to create 

profiles. 

4. Each Plaintiff informed me that he previously created a profile with the 

Ashley Madison website, at which time he provided the website with personal 

information, including his name, postal address, and email address. 

5. The Ashley Madison website makes several statements that it will safeguard 

its users’ personal information.

6. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and correct printout from a webpage

within the Ashley Madison website, which displays the frequently asked question, “Will 

‘Ashley Madison Down Low’ show on my credit card statement?” My office accessed and 

printed out this webpage on September 9, 2015 from the following URL:

Case 2:15-cv-01768-DJH Document 16 Filed 09/11/15 Page 2 of 7
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Case No. 2:15-cv-01768-DJH 2 KRONENBERGER DECL. IN SUPPORT OF

EX PARTE APP. FOR TRO

• https://downlow.ashleymadison.com/faqs/billing-name

As Exhibit A shows, the Ashley Madison website responds to this frequently asked 

question as follows: “No. Our billing is totally anonymous.”

7. Attached hereto as Exhibit B is a true and correct printout of the Ashley 

Madison website privacy policy, which my office accessed and printed out on September 

9, 2015 from the following URL:

• https://downlow.ashleymadison.com/privacy-policy.html

As Exhibit B shows, the Ashley Madison website promises to safeguard its users’

personally identifiable information and only to disclose that information in limited 

situations. 

8. Attached hereto as Exhibit C is a true and correct printout of a webpage 

within the Ashley Madison website, which displays a letter from Noel Biderman, the 

former President and CEO of Ashley Madison and Avid Life Media. My office accessed 

and printed out this webpage on September 9, 2015 from the following URL:

• https://www.ashleymadison.com/app/public/guarantee/detailsform.p

As Exhibit C shows, Ashley Madison promises its users that “Our website is 100% 

secure, completely anonymous and now with the Affair Guarantee Package, absolutely 

risk free. So start now and change your life today!”

9. Attached hereto as Exhibit D is a true and correct printout of a webpage 

within the Ashley Madison website’s enrollment process, which my office accessed and 

printed out on September 9, 2015 from the following URL:

• https://www.ashleymadison.com/app/public/modals/agegate/modal.p

As Exhibit D shows, the Ashley Madison website represents to its users that: “We're 

100% secure, completely anonymous and have over 40,000,000 members around the 

world.”

10. Attached hereto as Exhibit E is a true and correct printout of a webpage 

within the Ashley Madison website that displays an article entitled “4 Ways To Maintain 

Your Privacy and Discretion in Modern Day Affairs,” which my office accessed and 

Case 2:15-cv-01768-DJH Document 16 Filed 09/11/15 Page 3 of 7
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Case No. 2:15-cv-01768-DJH 3 KRONENBERGER DECL. IN SUPPORT OF

EX PARTE APP. FOR TRO

downloaded on September 9, 2015 from the following URL:

• https://www.ashleymadison.com/blog/4-ways-to-maintain-your-privacy-anddiscretion-in-modern-day-affairs/

As Exhibit E shows, the Ashley Madison website advises users as follows:

We're not sure if people do this to brag or they want to make themselves 

sound important or they're just not thinking about the issues, but when 

you're having an affair... your affair partner doesn't need to know what 

neighbourhood you live in or the name of the company that you work for. 

You don't have to have completely anonymous sex if you don't want to, but 

that doesn't mean that you should be giving out specific details about

yourself.

11. Each Plaintiff informed me that he only registered with the Ashley Madison 

website based on his understanding that his personally identifiable information would be 

kept confidential, and each Plaintiff informed me that he had not authorized any person to 

release or distribute his information. 

12. Following the highly-publicized theft of data from the Ashley Madison 

website, various websites have appeared that allow users to search for registrants of the 

Ashley Madison website, including the registrants’ names, postal addresses, and email 

addresses.

13. Four such websites are located at the following URLs:

• <adulterysearch.com>

• <ashleymadisonpowersearch.com>

• <ashleymadisoninvestigations.com>

• <greyhatpro.com>

(collectively, the “Roe Websites”). Attached hereto as Exhibits F-I respectively are true 

and correct screenshots of the Roe Websites, which my office captured on September 9, 

2015. The URL <ashleymadisonpowersearch.com> redirected me to a website located at 

<adulterysearch.com>; thus Exhibits F and G are identical. 

Case 2:15-cv-01768-DJH Document 16 Filed 09/11/15 Page 4 of 7
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Case No. 2:15-cv-01768-DJH 4 KRONENBERGER DECL. IN SUPPORT OF

EX PARTE APP. FOR TRO

14. While the different Roe Websites provide various (and often inconsistent) 

explanations of where their data is located and how it is searched, each Roe Website 

enables users to search for registrants of the Ashley Madison website.

15. Attached hereto as Exhibits J-M respectively are true and correct printouts 

of the WHOIS data for the Roe Websites, which my office obtained on September 9, 2015 

using the Domain Tools service. As indicated by these exhibits, some of the WHOIS 

information is “privacy protected,” meaning that all information concerning the true owner 

and operator of the website has been concealed through the use of an unrelated privacy 

protection service. While other information in the WHOIS data appears to contain real 

names and addresses, it is inconclusive as to whether these names and addresses relate to 

the true operators of the Roe Websites—i.e., the Roe Defendants—or comprise fictitious 

identifications or merely refer to web development or registration services. Accordingly, 

confirmation from the hosting companies is necessary to identify and name the Roe 

Defendants. 

16. Exhibit M shows that the website associated with <greyhatpro.com> is 

hosted by Cloudflare Inc. (“Cloudflare”). However, a representative of Cloudflare 

informed me that Cloudflare serves as a reverse proxy service for that website, and 

actually, the website is hosted by Amazon Web Services. 

17. Each Plaintiff has informed me that his name is included within the stolen 

Ashley Madison database available through the Roe Websites. 

18. Each Plaintiff has also informed me that Ashley Madison’s guarantees of 

confidentiality and anonymity were crucial prerequisites to his registration with the Ashley 

Madison website. Each Plaintiff has also informed me that the public disclosure of his use 

of the Ashley Madison website has caused him great shame, embarrassment, and anxiety, 

and it threatens to disrupt and seriously interfere with his family relationships. 

19. Attached hereto as Exhibit N is a true and correct screenshot of the webpage

located at <downlow.ashleymadison.com>, which my office captured on September 9, 

2015. 

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Case No. 2:15-cv-01768-DJH 5 KRONENBERGER DECL. IN SUPPORT OF

EX PARTE APP. FOR TRO

20. Attached hereto as Exhibit O is a true and correct screenshot of the profile 

registration webpage within the Ashley Madison website, which my office captured on 

September 9, 2015. 

21. Attached hereto as Exhibit P is a true and correct screenshot of the paid 

premium profile registration webpage within the Ashley Madison website, which my office 

captured on September 9, 2015. 

22. Attached hereto as Exhibit Q is a true and correct copy of an article 

published in the New York Times on August 19, 2015, entitled “The Ashley Madison Data 

Dump, Explained.” My office downloaded this article from the New York Times website 

on September 9, 2015. 

23. Attached hereto as Exhibit R is a true and correct copy of an article 

published in the International Business Times on August 19, 2015, entitled “Ashley 

Madison hack: How to search adultery website data leak to see if your details are on 

there.” My office downloaded this article from the International Business Times website 

on September 10, 2015. 

24. Attached hereto as Exhibit S is a true and correct printout of the checkout 

page on the GoDaddy.com, LLC (“GoDaddy”) website, located at 

<cart.godaddy.com/Checkout/Payment.aspx>, which my office printed out on September 

10, 2015. My office encountered this checkout page after going through the process of 

purchasing a website hosting account through the GoDaddy website. Exhibit S shows that 

registrants must provide GoDaddy with several pieces of personal information before 

purchasing GoDaddy’s website hosting services. 

25. Attached hereto as Exhibit T are true and correct printouts of the checkout 

pages from the Amazon Web Services, Inc. (“Amazon”) website, located at 

<aws.amazon.com>, which my office printed out on September 10, 2015. My office 

encountered these checkout pages after going through the process of signing up for an 

Amazon cloud website hosting account. Exhibit T shows that registrants must provide 

Amazon with several pieces of personal information before enrolling in/purchasing 

Case 2:15-cv-01768-DJH Document 16 Filed 09/11/15 Page 6 of 7
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Case No. 2:15-cv-01768-DJH 6 KRONENBERGER DECL. IN SUPPORT OF

EX PARTE APP. FOR TRO

Amazon’s website hosting services. 

26. I believe that my office has exhausted all possible non-judicial means to 

identify the Roe Defendants. My office’s technical staff reviewed all of the Roe Websites 

along with all of the user account information associated with the Roe Websites, including 

the archived WHOIS information and hosting data. My office also reviewed the source 

code and meta-data associated with the Roe Websites in a further effort to identify the Roe 

Defendants. My office also searched for and reviewed other websites ostensibly created by 

the Roe Defendants in an effort to bootstrap unrelated information into the identification of 

a Roe Defendant. My office spent several hours analyzing all of this data in an effort to 

identify the Roe Defendants. 

27. During the week of September 7, 2015, my colleague Ginny Sanderson and I 

conferred with counsel for Amazon and GoDaddy multiple times about this lawsuit, 

Plaintiffs’ request for early discovery, and Plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining 

order and preliminary injunction. Among other things, Ginny and I asked whether Amazon 

and GoDaddy would be willing to identify the registrants/operators of the Roe Websites 

without the need for judicial process. 

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America 

that the foregoing is true and correct and that this Declaration was executed on September 

11, 2015, in San Francisco, California.

s/ Karl S. Kronenberger

Karl S. Kronenberger

Case 2:15-cv-01768-DJH Document 16 Filed 09/11/15 Page 7 of 7