[phowon]

So I'm curious - is this considered blackmail if the object isn't money?

[pertymcpert]

Wikipedia says this: Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false, and often damaging, information about a person, to the public, family members, or associates unless certain demands are met.

It seems its considered blackmail but in the strictly legal sense I'm not sure. There's probably a law to cover that though, extortion?

[elliekelly]

It only needs to be “something of value”... often money, but I think most reasonable people can see the potential value of the requested statement from Jeff Bezos.

Now if AMI wanted you or I to say those statements I’m not sure how valuable they’d be.

[slavik81]

To elaborate, "something of value" is the language from the federal law. Under Washington state law, blackmail explicitly includes demands for services.

I would think that the demand for a public statement would qualify, however, I'm not a lawyer, and this case is unusual enough that I would not be confident in my personal interpretation of the law.

[WrtCdEvrydy]

Generally, yes, but you might catch a charge for something else. If they're not asking for money, what they're asking for has to be illegal.

Blackmail for Theft: Conspiracy to commit Theft.

Blackmail for Fraud: Conspiracy to commit Fraud.

[throwaway8879]

Yes, very much so.