10 ms·

> Well, that got my attention. But not in the way they likely hoped. Any personal embarrassment AMI could cause me takes a back seat because there’s a much more

by danso 8y ago

> Well, that got my attention. But not in the way they likely hoped. Any personal embarrassment AMI could cause me takes a back seat because there’s a much more important matter involved here. If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can? Can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a prominent person post the details of a personal extortion attempt out of defiance for all to see.

hypochondria 8y ago
I don't think that this is a great example. The scandal was already out. His wife was already leaving him. The public already knows and already assumed lurid exploits. The rest is just details. It would be different if the decision to publicize this extortion attempt had been what caused his divorce.
- reitzensteinm 8y ago
  They are threatening to post photos of him sexting. Calling that "just details" is a stunning lack of empathy. Even if you'd personally be unperturbed by a similar situation, the vast majority of humans would find it humiliating and invasive in the extreme.
  - hypochondria 8y ago
    > They are threatening to post photos of him sexting. Is a photo published in a disreputable magazine significantly worse than the information already out so far which already got people thinking about him sexting anyway combined with losing custody of ~70 billion dollars in the coming divorce? I'm not so sure. Their privacy was already thoroughly invaded before this latest development.
    - reitzensteinm 8y ago
      It doesn't matter if it's worse. Going through a public divorce doesn't make one stop caring about an invasion of sexual privacy. It doesn't work like that.
    - markbnj 8y ago
      > Is a photo published in a disreputable magazine significantly worse than the information already out so far which already got people thinking about him sexting anyway Yes, unequivocally. I suspect any PR person would agree. You can doubt information published by a disreputable source, but most people believe the images they see, even in this deep faked era.
  - buboard 8y ago
    i don't know if "in the extreme". certainly not extreme enough to be extorted over. There is vastly worse things to be ashamed about, most people understand that other people are not flawless, esp. when it doesn't affect them.
  - scotty79 8y ago
    I think Jeff Bezos is one the people that wouldn't take a picture with their PHONE if they thought the photo should never ever be leaked to public. Any photo you take with a connected device can be eventually obtained and published. I hope all the folks here are aware about that.
- matt4077 8y ago
  It’s really not a scandal to split up with your wife. Or to have sex. That Pecker and his ilk seem to think it is, is the reason they misjudged this situation so fatally.
  - mynameisvlad 8y ago
    I mean, AMI does publish basically all the gossip-filled tabloids and magazines, so to them, it is the hot new scandal of the year.
    - blattimwind 8y ago
      To what bigot is "after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends" a scandal?
      - mynameisvlad 8y ago
        Well, to nobody when it's written that way. But if it was "HOT NEW SCANDAL! You'll NEVER believe who's getting a divorce!!!! Cha-ching!" then I'm sure a lot more people would call it a scandal and be inclined to read about it. Clickbait-y titles have been a thing for a long time, and AMI's (as well as basically all other gossipy) magazines use them practically every issue to try and get you to buy it.
petercooper 8y ago
I think another interesting thing about these times, compared to when such things may have happened 20+ years ago, is that the photos they've described would cause rather little outrage or attract much beyond a few giggles from the public. Especially if released after their existence is already known about. I think the iCloud leaks of 2014 severely tempered society's salacious demand for more pictures of this nature.
- drcode 8y ago
  This is especially true because it isn't a matter of hypocrisy: Bezos isn't a political figure or religious authority claiming high moral standards.
- rhizome 8y ago
  As I read Bezos's post, I noticed that at the section where he describes the photographs, I found myself simply scrolling past them to get to the next part of the story.
  - bitexploder 8y ago
    100% — Let’s be realistic. Between two consenting adults is there anything non-violent that is truly that weird? We have a few pleasure bits attached to our bodies. Some people get excited by objects (fetishes). When you step back a level, the window dressing becomes laughably irrelevant. You’ve seen my dick? Oh no. You saw me courting another female? Private, but oh, the horror.... it’s just so silly in the scheme of it all. I would laugh and laugh at anyone that tried to extort me in this way. “Hey team, someone stole some dick picks of mine, don’t look at them if you want eye contact to remain comfortable, lol.” Life goes on. Am I being a little flippant, yeah, but seriously, step back, in 10 years this won’t even be a footnote on his Wikipedia page beyond the fact that he spanked AMI like the bad toddlers they are.
    - tomp 8y ago
      Even violent consenting things shouldn’t be weird.
cromwellian 8y ago
David Letterman also did it very publicly on his TV show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44QgPty17Mc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44QgPty17Mc This shows the whole Trump/AMI/Campaign org to essentially be a criminal mafia enterprise.
- davidw 8y ago
  > This shows the whole Trump/AMI/Campaign org to essentially be a criminal mafia enterprise. There are quite a few connections with organized crime, it turns out. This isn't just a random slur, but something that merits investigation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-trumps-mob-connections-a-coincidence-fuhgeddaboudit/2018/08/10/24b62e2c-9cad-11e8-843b-36e177f3081c_story.html?utm_term=.f34ec45db8d0 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-trumps-mob-conne... and of course there's this, too: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/d...
- cromwellian 8y ago
  Are the people downvoting this (presumably Trump supporters), that AMI admitted guilt in attempting to influence the 2016 by using their well known tactics to snub a story damaging to the candidate, and that their plea agreement stipulates that they would no longer commit anymore crimes, and that by blackmailing Bezos, they're essentially broken their plea agreement? This is the very definition of a criminal enterprise. Breaking federal election laws, blackmailing those investigating your crimes. If the connection to the Trump campaign bothers you, that too is factual, given that AMI's agreement involved assistance they gave to the Trump campaign that was illegal, and the owner, David Pecker, is a close personal friend of the President. There's pretty good circumstantial evidence from this, and the Cohen tapes, that using power and privilege to "deal with" personal or political enemies does not give pause to these people. Thus, mafia-like behavior.
  - davidw 8y ago
    I think HN has Trump bots.
nraynaud 8y ago
I guess he had no real choice, there is no way the extortionist would not come back for more.
lapnitnelav 8y ago
Not specifically a big fan of Uncle Jeff but gotta admit it takes some guts to publish such a thing. Sneaky edit : I'm sure one could not ignore his massive balls on any of the selfies AMI allegedly got their hands on ;)
- abraae 8y ago
  Yeah, and he makes a great point - if he can't fight back against this sort of thing, then who the heck ever could?
  - ergothus 8y ago
    Exactly - I'm trying to imagine being in his place and being open about all of this...and it's HARD. It's easy for me to want HIM to do it, but as much as I think being disgustingly wealthy would be great...I'm sure I'd still be really nervous about pressing that button. And it's easy for us to say "Well I wouldn't be in that place to begin with", but as I much as I not be in this EXACT place, most of us have made mistakes that we deeply regret and fear getting out, or at least have the capability to. I don't have to assume I'd do this particular set of bad acts to be vulnerable. And once socially vulnerable, would money make it go away? No, not entirely, not enough. So how hard must it be for people who AREN'T disgustingly wealthy? Or even wealthy? Or even well-off? Heck, with the quality of "deepfakes" or whatever now-a-days, all you need to do is find someone vulnerable to BEING vulnerable, and they don't even have to have done wrong. One marriage that has had no infidelity but is struggling, one person with a child/spouse who is suffering from serious depression/anxiety/suicidal/related issues. "hey, I have these pictures, and if you do X they don't have to see the light of day. You can deny them being real all you want...do you think that will really help?" Or take the gross spectacle of releasing celebrity sex pics, or even just non-celebrity revenge pics. The only answer is for (1) we as a society to reject attempts to abuse this info and (2) to be less puritanical and judgmental about the victims here. To the Bezos example, one person can do wrong and we can oppose another using it to do wrong against them without condoning any of the original wrong. Bezos has a hard time doing this, and it's far, far easier for him than for anyone else. I didn't care about his personal life before (note: Not the same as saying it doesn't matter) and I still don't, but even if I did I can find the blackmail efforts repugnant without letting adulterers off the hook. ...but that's hard too. Just not nearly as hard.
kumarvvr 8y ago
AMI picked the wrong person. Jeff, literally, has tons of money, extremely respected in the business world. Forget about the embarrassment, if he secretly capitulates to this, then the real blackmail material would be the capitulation, not the photos. Cause if the owner of Washington Post bowed down to blackmail, every article published in the article will be called into question. And who gives a shit if a billionaire cheated on his wife or sent dick pics. I don't care. Did he murder someone? Did he not divorce his wife by parting with half his fortune?
- rodgerd 8y ago
  > Did he not divorce his wife by parting with half his fortune? Half of their fortune. It was communal property.
  - dahfizz 8y ago
    Let's be real. He earned much more than half.
    - toomuchtodo 8y ago
      His wife supported him after he left his IB job to start Amazon. Amazon would not be without her in all probability. I argue Jeff earned half; precisely half, which would otherwise be zero without his wife's 20+ years of support. https://www.wired.com/story/mackenzie-bezos-amazon-lone-genius-myth/ https://www.wired.com/story/mackenzie-bezos-amazon-lone-geni...
      - busterarm 8y ago
        Jeff's parents supported him when he left his hedge fund job at D.E. Shaw. He was a quant and he had been there 4 years. He left his bonus on the table when he left but he was extremely well paid. He wasn't exactly hurting for cash. It's already well established fact that Jeff's/Amazon's costs in the early days were paid for with his parents' life savings.
fizixer 8y ago
Maybe a combination of defiance and comic relief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7f9D4KclJw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7f9D4KclJw (David Letterman talks about an extortion attempt on him)
clucas 8y ago
David Letterman laid out the details of a blackmail attempt on air a several years ago. If memory serves, he had been having sex with a young staffer on his show. These sorts of blackmail blowbacks happen from time to time, and it's always people who are very secure - either with money or social status or both - who are able to pull them off.
peteforde 8y ago
David Letterman was being extorted over an affair in 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NaIwHWEE7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NaIwHWEE7k
unknownkadath 8y ago
That's some Reynolds Pamphlet biz right there.
c3534l 8y ago
I remember David Letterman doing just that. Apparently that's the conventional wisdom on this sort of thing: announce it yourself rather than let the other person take the first public move.

by danso 8y ago

hypochondria 8y ago

I don't think that this is a great example. The scandal was already out. His wife was already leaving him. The public already knows and already assumed lurid exploits. The rest is just details. It would be different if the decision to publicize this extortion attempt had been what caused his divorce.

reitzensteinm 8y ago
They are threatening to post photos of him sexting. Calling that "just details" is a stunning lack of empathy. Even if you'd personally be unperturbed by a similar situation, the vast majority of humans would find it humiliating and invasive in the extreme.
- hypochondria 8y ago
  > They are threatening to post photos of him sexting. Is a photo published in a disreputable magazine significantly worse than the information already out so far which already got people thinking about him sexting anyway combined with losing custody of ~70 billion dollars in the coming divorce? I'm not so sure. Their privacy was already thoroughly invaded before this latest development.
  - reitzensteinm 8y ago
    It doesn't matter if it's worse. Going through a public divorce doesn't make one stop caring about an invasion of sexual privacy. It doesn't work like that.
  - markbnj 8y ago
    > Is a photo published in a disreputable magazine significantly worse than the information already out so far which already got people thinking about him sexting anyway Yes, unequivocally. I suspect any PR person would agree. You can doubt information published by a disreputable source, but most people believe the images they see, even in this deep faked era.
- buboard 8y ago
  i don't know if "in the extreme". certainly not extreme enough to be extorted over. There is vastly worse things to be ashamed about, most people understand that other people are not flawless, esp. when it doesn't affect them.
- scotty79 8y ago
  I think Jeff Bezos is one the people that wouldn't take a picture with their PHONE if they thought the photo should never ever be leaked to public. Any photo you take with a connected device can be eventually obtained and published. I hope all the folks here are aware about that.
matt4077 8y ago
It’s really not a scandal to split up with your wife. Or to have sex. That Pecker and his ilk seem to think it is, is the reason they misjudged this situation so fatally.
- mynameisvlad 8y ago
  I mean, AMI does publish basically all the gossip-filled tabloids and magazines, so to them, it is the hot new scandal of the year.
  - blattimwind 8y ago
    To what bigot is "after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends" a scandal?
    - mynameisvlad 8y ago
      Well, to nobody when it's written that way. But if it was "HOT NEW SCANDAL! You'll NEVER believe who's getting a divorce!!!! Cha-ching!" then I'm sure a lot more people would call it a scandal and be inclined to read about it. Clickbait-y titles have been a thing for a long time, and AMI's (as well as basically all other gossipy) magazines use them practically every issue to try and get you to buy it.

petercooper 8y ago

I think another interesting thing about these times, compared to when such things may have happened 20+ years ago, is that the photos they've described would cause rather little outrage or attract much beyond a few giggles from the public. Especially if released after their existence is already known about. I think the iCloud leaks of 2014 severely tempered society's salacious demand for more pictures of this nature.

drcode 8y ago
This is especially true because it isn't a matter of hypocrisy: Bezos isn't a political figure or religious authority claiming high moral standards.
rhizome 8y ago
As I read Bezos's post, I noticed that at the section where he describes the photographs, I found myself simply scrolling past them to get to the next part of the story.
- bitexploder 8y ago
  100% — Let’s be realistic. Between two consenting adults is there anything non-violent that is truly that weird? We have a few pleasure bits attached to our bodies. Some people get excited by objects (fetishes). When you step back a level, the window dressing becomes laughably irrelevant. You’ve seen my dick? Oh no. You saw me courting another female? Private, but oh, the horror.... it’s just so silly in the scheme of it all. I would laugh and laugh at anyone that tried to extort me in this way. “Hey team, someone stole some dick picks of mine, don’t look at them if you want eye contact to remain comfortable, lol.” Life goes on. Am I being a little flippant, yeah, but seriously, step back, in 10 years this won’t even be a footnote on his Wikipedia page beyond the fact that he spanked AMI like the bad toddlers they are.
  - tomp 8y ago
    Even violent consenting things shouldn’t be weird.

cromwellian 8y ago

David Letterman also did it very publicly on his TV show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44QgPty17Mc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44QgPty17Mc This shows the whole Trump/AMI/Campaign org to essentially be a criminal mafia enterprise.

davidw 8y ago
> This shows the whole Trump/AMI/Campaign org to essentially be a criminal mafia enterprise. There are quite a few connections with organized crime, it turns out. This isn't just a random slur, but something that merits investigation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-trumps-mob-connections-a-coincidence-fuhgeddaboudit/2018/08/10/24b62e2c-9cad-11e8-843b-36e177f3081c_story.html?utm_term=.f34ec45db8d0 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-trumps-mob-conne... and of course there's this, too: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/d...
cromwellian 8y ago
Are the people downvoting this (presumably Trump supporters), that AMI admitted guilt in attempting to influence the 2016 by using their well known tactics to snub a story damaging to the candidate, and that their plea agreement stipulates that they would no longer commit anymore crimes, and that by blackmailing Bezos, they're essentially broken their plea agreement? This is the very definition of a criminal enterprise. Breaking federal election laws, blackmailing those investigating your crimes. If the connection to the Trump campaign bothers you, that too is factual, given that AMI's agreement involved assistance they gave to the Trump campaign that was illegal, and the owner, David Pecker, is a close personal friend of the President. There's pretty good circumstantial evidence from this, and the Cohen tapes, that using power and privilege to "deal with" personal or political enemies does not give pause to these people. Thus, mafia-like behavior.
- davidw 8y ago
  I think HN has Trump bots.

nraynaud 8y ago

I guess he had no real choice, there is no way the extortionist would not come back for more.

lapnitnelav 8y ago

Not specifically a big fan of Uncle Jeff but gotta admit it takes some guts to publish such a thing. Sneaky edit : I'm sure one could not ignore his massive balls on any of the selfies AMI allegedly got their hands on ;)

abraae 8y ago
Yeah, and he makes a great point - if he can't fight back against this sort of thing, then who the heck ever could?
- ergothus 8y ago
  Exactly - I'm trying to imagine being in his place and being open about all of this...and it's HARD. It's easy for me to want HIM to do it, but as much as I think being disgustingly wealthy would be great...I'm sure I'd still be really nervous about pressing that button. And it's easy for us to say "Well I wouldn't be in that place to begin with", but as I much as I not be in this EXACT place, most of us have made mistakes that we deeply regret and fear getting out, or at least have the capability to. I don't have to assume I'd do this particular set of bad acts to be vulnerable. And once socially vulnerable, would money make it go away? No, not entirely, not enough. So how hard must it be for people who AREN'T disgustingly wealthy? Or even wealthy? Or even well-off? Heck, with the quality of "deepfakes" or whatever now-a-days, all you need to do is find someone vulnerable to BEING vulnerable, and they don't even have to have done wrong. One marriage that has had no infidelity but is struggling, one person with a child/spouse who is suffering from serious depression/anxiety/suicidal/related issues. "hey, I have these pictures, and if you do X they don't have to see the light of day. You can deny them being real all you want...do you think that will really help?" Or take the gross spectacle of releasing celebrity sex pics, or even just non-celebrity revenge pics. The only answer is for (1) we as a society to reject attempts to abuse this info and (2) to be less puritanical and judgmental about the victims here. To the Bezos example, one person can do wrong and we can oppose another using it to do wrong against them without condoning any of the original wrong. Bezos has a hard time doing this, and it's far, far easier for him than for anyone else. I didn't care about his personal life before (note: Not the same as saying it doesn't matter) and I still don't, but even if I did I can find the blackmail efforts repugnant without letting adulterers off the hook. ...but that's hard too. Just not nearly as hard.

kumarvvr 8y ago

AMI picked the wrong person. Jeff, literally, has tons of money, extremely respected in the business world. Forget about the embarrassment, if he secretly capitulates to this, then the real blackmail material would be the capitulation, not the photos. Cause if the owner of Washington Post bowed down to blackmail, every article published in the article will be called into question. And who gives a shit if a billionaire cheated on his wife or sent dick pics. I don't care. Did he murder someone? Did he not divorce his wife by parting with half his fortune?

rodgerd 8y ago
> Did he not divorce his wife by parting with half his fortune? Half of their fortune. It was communal property.
- dahfizz 8y ago
  Let's be real. He earned much more than half.
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    His wife supported him after he left his IB job to start Amazon. Amazon would not be without her in all probability. I argue Jeff earned half; precisely half, which would otherwise be zero without his wife's 20+ years of support. https://www.wired.com/story/mackenzie-bezos-amazon-lone-genius-myth/ https://www.wired.com/story/mackenzie-bezos-amazon-lone-geni...
    - busterarm 8y ago
      Jeff's parents supported him when he left his hedge fund job at D.E. Shaw. He was a quant and he had been there 4 years. He left his bonus on the table when he left but he was extremely well paid. He wasn't exactly hurting for cash. It's already well established fact that Jeff's/Amazon's costs in the early days were paid for with his parents' life savings.

fizixer 8y ago

Maybe a combination of defiance and comic relief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7f9D4KclJw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7f9D4KclJw (David Letterman talks about an extortion attempt on him)

clucas 8y ago

David Letterman laid out the details of a blackmail attempt on air a several years ago. If memory serves, he had been having sex with a young staffer on his show. These sorts of blackmail blowbacks happen from time to time, and it's always people who are very secure - either with money or social status or both - who are able to pull them off.

peteforde 8y ago

David Letterman was being extorted over an affair in 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NaIwHWEE7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NaIwHWEE7k

unknownkadath 8y ago

That's some Reynolds Pamphlet biz right there.

c3534l 8y ago

I remember David Letterman doing just that. Apparently that's the conventional wisdom on this sort of thing: announce it yourself rather than let the other person take the first public move.