Can a strategy against blackmail be to reveal the information yourself?
If you don’t want to comply (pay), and you believe Alice will follow on her threat, can you minimize harm by being faster and revealing the information yourself?
You can also gain yourself some reputation by seeming honest, and to take away any status Alice might have gotten from exposing you. Alice can’t put you in a bad light for “stealing” it from her, cause then she admits to blackmail.
and lastly—who’s gonna try to blackmail someone who just makes it past them and publishes it themselves?
Can a strategy against blackmail be to reveal the information yourself?
If you don’t want to comply (pay), and you believe Alice will follow on her threat, can you minimize harm by being faster and revealing the information yourself?
You can also gain yourself some reputation by seeming honest, and to take away any status Alice might have gotten from exposing you. Alice can’t put you in a bad light for “stealing” it from her, cause then she admits to blackmail.
and lastly—who’s gonna try to blackmail someone who just makes it past them and publishes it themselves?
Yes. This is a viable strategy people use in the real world. It is often called “get ahead of the story.”