I find the argument quite ridiculous, but worse, the premise seems flawed. Contrary to the authors claim, publishing humiliating information would probably fall under defamation, which is illegal. At least in my country.
Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
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Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#22I find the argument quite ridiculous, but worse, the premise seems flawed. Contrary to the authors claim, publishing humiliating information would probably fall under defamation, which is illegal. At least in my country.
Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#23Can't wait to hear this author use the same logic elsewhere.
"It's legal to wish for someone's death, and legal to hand over briefcases full of cash. In this paper I will demonstrate how hiring a hitman is, in fact, ..."
or
"It's well-known that hydrogen is an explosive gas, and oxygen is an explosive gas, Q.E.D., the author maintains that the chemical H2O should in fact, also be considered an explosive gas."
Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#24I find the argument quite ridiculous, but worse, the premise seems flawed. Contrary to the authors claim, publishing humiliating information would probably fall under defamation, which is illegal. At least in my country.
Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#25Talk about being a straw man!
Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#26Sounds like that Simpsons episode ( https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Bob_Next_Door ): Bob arrives at The Five Corners and has himself and Bart (with his hands and feet bound with duct tape) stand in two of the states at the meeting point. He then tells Bart of his plan to murder him: Bob will stand in one state; reach into a second state and shoot his gun; have the bullet travel through a third state; hit Bart in…
Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#27Sounds like that Simpsons episode ( https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Bob_Next_Door ): Bob arrives at The Five Corners and has himself and Bart (with his hands and feet bound with duct tape) stand in two of the states at the meeting point. He then tells Bart of his plan to murder him: Bob will stand in one state; reach into a second state and shoot his gun; have the bullet travel through a third state; hit Bart in…
Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#28Drinking is legal, driving is legal, so it should be legal to combine them. trabant00, professor emeritus of mental gymnastics. Plz give money for study and paper. There's plenty of things that are legal except if done in a certain way, at a certain time, with certain persons, circumstances, etc. In fact I would argue most things are legal in a limited scope than things that are legal in any circumstance. And in the…
The thing is that in other cases you are allowed to threaten with legal actions. For example if I have permission to build on some land that would block your view, then I can ask you to pay to prevent me from doing this.
In your example you aren't asking for money not to hurt them, like with blackmail. You are asking for money to give up your legal right to do something. Intent also counts in law.
Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#29insider trading, a victimless crime
Surely, everyone is naked at times, still when secretly captured on camera, you can become a victim.
(Edit: this was supposed to be a root comment)
Re: Blackmail as a Victimless Crime: Reply to Altman (1998)
#30Doesn't the same thing apply to bribery? I can gift you something, and I can ask you to do something. But if I do the first conditioned on the second it's bribery.
Now it's a facilitating payment ;-)