The problem with blackmail

Blackmailing someone is not as easy as it seems on TV. Of course, a lie can be fabricated and used for blackmail, but this form of blackmail isn’t as classy as threatening to reveal something true about a person.

The first step in blackmailing someone is to discover some incredible secret about them that they wouldn’t want revealed. This can be problematic if trying to blackmail someone who lives an open, honest, and simple life (unlike a politician). Finding something an open and honest person would be ashamed of can prove to be difficult.

In blackmail, releasing the embarrassing information to the public can also be a problem, unless done anonymously. See, in releasing the information, the blackmailer provides clues about how the information was obtained which can potentially be embarrassing to the blackmailer to have people find out their sneaky information obtaining efforts.