"an illegal system in which criminals threaten to harm you or your property if you do not give them money"
How strange; it's not remote close to what you literally read as a dictionary definition.
I've checked other dictionaries too; same story. Here's an idea; why not open up this magical dictionary you have and see what it says under the word "literally".
I literally found a definition a lot like yours in my literal dictionary. I am sort of baffled at your comment because that sentence seems to be an accurate description of the situation I described in my analogy. Let me
A) I and my colleagues illegally broke into your thing ("harm you and your property"),
B) and you had better hire me to fix your thing ("give them money"), or
C) we'll probably do it again next time ("threaten").
I'm not sure what the source of our disagreement is.
I disagree that your fire department remark from above is a correct way of thinking about the situation, because the fire department does not start fires, nor do they charge for leaflets. What makes it seem like extortion is not primarily that geohot is offering to secure their console. It's that he's offering to be paid to do so in the next breath after helping to exploit their console.
If this were extortion, in exchange for being paid, he'd not do something. What exactly is it that you suggest he will not do, in exchange for money, given that he's already released the crack to the world?
"if you want your next console to be secure, get in touch with me."
I suggest that in exchange for being paid, he will not help crack the PS4.
(I don't actually think that was the spirit of his remark, of course, but it probably is literally true that if Sony hired him, he would likely not help crack the PS4, while as it stands, he may well do so.)
I'm a fair man; let's do some checking. Here's one:
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/prote...
"an illegal system in which criminals threaten to harm you or your property if you do not give them money"
How strange; it's not remote close to what you literally read as a dictionary definition.
I've checked other dictionaries too; same story. Here's an idea; why not open up this magical dictionary you have and see what it says under the word "literally".