It's thought provoking because there really is a gray line between where payments to keep information secret is a legitimate private transaction and where they cross into criminality. And there are situations on either side of that line where I have trouble articulating why exactly one feels OK and the other doesn't.
I agree and I think the Bezos/National Enquirer situation is a good illustration of how difficult it is to articulate where that line is.
If the National Enquirer had offered to kill the story in exchange for Bezos paying them a million dollars would that have been as scandalous as their request to have the owner of a well-known newspaper make a false public statement that he disagrees with? Probably not.
Along the same lines, if the National Enquirer threatened to publish your personal text messages and photos unless you paid them a million dollars that would feel infinitely more outrageous than if the exact same offer were made to Bezos. Requesting a million dollars from the richest man in the world just doesn't feel as wrong.
