I agree that it is an extortion and other crimes. But the motivation as you describe it implies that Symantec provides some useful services (protection from vir

I agree that it is an extortion and other crimes. But the motivation as you describe it implies that Symantec provides some useful services (protection from viruses, phishing) and it is not clear that it is the case. Symantec might be the target for PR (its products are supposed to protect others but it can't protect itself) and 50000 other reasons. It is not self-evident that an antivirus provides enough benefit to outweigh its disadvantages (resource-hog, false-positives (intentional?), can't detect all attacks). In short security theater is not security. Of cause it doesn't make the crime any less.