Please read this entire post. It is long but necessary.
The issue
It is obvious that some sort of data breach has occurred at The Attitude Seed bank. They have admitted this much and have stated that they are looking into it. As a result of this data breach, a significant number of people's real names, real addresses and who knows what else is now in the hands of someone whom it was never intended to be in. Aside from the e-mail spam, this could potentially endanger those affected in terms of money if the credit card number was stolen, safety if the address is stolen, and worse if real names have been stolen.
While we here on these boards are ok with what were doing, we are (mostly) all committing an act of civil disobedience. I understand this, and I choose to take that risk because I believe in the cause and I like pot. But because mainstream society still frowns upon it, I do not advertise my affiliation with or my fondness of this beautiful plant. I applaud those who can stand up for the rest of us who make themselves available publicly dispute this social paranoia, but I'm not one of them.
However, now because of this data breach, I am very concerned about my personal information and my personal safety. I would be just as upset if this happened at Amazon or E-bay and would boycott them as well, but the difference is the DEA doesn't kick in your door, put a gun to your kids or your wife's head, and shoot your dog over a book. Well, not since Hitler, but that's a different rant. Don't believe that it happens? Google it. It happens, and for no better reason than making an example out of you. Not a lot, but it happens. They just got done raiding dispensaries in Washington, and Oregon I think.
Attitude is directly responsible for this. It is not their "fault" in the sense of I don't think they intended to have this happen, but intent is not the issue. And instead of admitting to it and trying to figure out what happened, they attempted to dismiss the issue, then changed their story to "well,it was only the e-mail addresses, no big deal". This is a lie,and now has gone from a breach to a cover up.
This is not acceptable. It is not acceptable that they lost our information,and they need to be told how unacceptable it is. As a consumer we have one way to do this, and that is to not spend your money with them. But its not enough to have one person, or two. It has to be a boycott, on a large scale, so that they have to deal with it.
Like I've said, I'm not saying they should shut down. I have ordered from them and I am very happy with their products, but I cannot do business with a company that cannot keep my information private. And I do not like being lied to, it implies that I'm too dumb to figure out that your lying. Attitude needs to take their medicine, admit what happened, notify those affected, and takes steps to ensure this never happens again.
Highlife Seeds is NOT involved (maybe)
I design email systems so I speak from experience. It is very easy to spoof e-mails (mask their true source), and it is very possible that they are a victim here as well. It could be that someone with a grudge against them is screwing around and just used their site as a scapegoat. It is possible that in an effort to screw over the companies as has been said that this is exactly what happened.
However, it is also possible that they were presented with an offer to buy a very high value e-mail list from someone as a marketing tool and didn't really think it through, that we would take such offense to it. When they realized the mistake, they would immediately disavow any knowledge of the incident and could do so because the email didn't come from them, it came from someone who has the capability of generating SPAM. we may never know. But if this list didn't exist, this would never have been possible, which is why this is still Attitudes fault
Why should everyone care?
I can't believe some of you are taking the stance of "Well, that's what you get! You're so stupid for using your real information, etc." Really? What we need is a little solidarity here. We should all be concerned. For those affected, your are now at a higher risk than you were 48 hours ago. For people in the UK, One of your companies just screwed over some of your buddies. For those not affected, at least stand behind us, why are you hopeful that we get caught for being a little more daring than you, a little more committed than you. For those who enjoy our products, the patients, the friends, this is a threat to people who are trying to do something about it. Overgrow the government! But we need to stand together, and when a major player in the game, Attitude! Makes a mistake of this magnitude, they have to be held accountable, and the only way I can do that it to keep my money, or give it to others who takes more precautions and safeguard my data better. If it turns out hats nobody, than I guess I can no longer order seeds from the Internet, but it does not mean that I just accept it.
I do this because I'm a man, I'm an American, and i'm a veteran of war, and I have earned the right to privacy and the right to freedom, and this type of mistake has compromised both.
If you have something to say, please do so. If you're going to speak from ignorance because you don't understand the problem, please save us the noise. If you can debate this issue, please do so, I enjoy a good conversation, but don't make this seem like it's not a big deal. It is a very big deal, it affects all of us, and should not be ignored because a majority of people are afraid of confrontation.
signed up when we got our ticket 
