[mittensc]

> What's the defense? Intelligent screening of incoming messages so that the threat never reaches the blackmail target? I imagine they'll find an unprotected channel.

Same defenses that are used against fraud and other crime.

criminal prosecution of the blackmailers AND the services used to generate the pictures.

This is effectively child porn... so penalties would be pretty harsh.

There are extradition treaties to most of the world, so unless the blackmailers are in China/Russia they will end up in jail.

That same thing played out with piracy with people extradited to the US from various countries

[graemep]

I just looked it up and according to Wikipedia distributing child porn is a crime in both, possession is a crime in China. Blackmail is a crime in both too. So even if they do not extradite the blackmailers they are likely to face jail under the their own laws.