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blackmail

One of the more interesting concepts (as I understand it) within the libertarian point of view is that blackmail is a victimless crime: that gossip is legal, and fundraising is legal, so fundraising in exchange for not gossiping should be legal. In a debatable case Walter Block says that someone who has knowledge of an embezzlement but no connection to it should be able to exchange compensation for not telling anyone about the crime. He writes that "positive duty to be a good Samaritan . . . has no place in criminal law."

My question is who does have the duty in that case?


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