Blackmail is not unlawful.
It is in many countries especially those with a common law tradition.
Blackmail is an act, often a crime, involving unjustified threats to make a gain (commonly money or property) or cause loss to another unless a demand is met.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail
We are on the internet which is like being out on international waters.
People are prosecuted for online crimes all the time.
http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Cybercrime/Cybercrime
We do not fall under any statutory jurisdiction other than the Steemit terms and conditions.
Yes you do, indeed the fact that it's happening on the internet allows people to 'jurisdiction shop' as is commonly done with defamation, so posting on the internet is worse since you may find yourself in a legal jurisdiction less favorable than your own.
http://www.commonlawreview.cz/on-selecting-jurisdiction-in-internet-defamation-cases
https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/property99/domain/Betsy.html
would you elaborate on your last point there for me? I could see it holding water if they are both for instance American citizens or citizens or countries that have relevant agreements like England or something. But wouldn't that have to be proven? Am I wrong to that you can't assume jurisdiction online?
The plaintiff generally gets to choose jurisdiction online. They only have to come up with a justification for any of the parties involved, even the owners of the website, which the judge in that country will accept, and they can settle it in that court. This is an extremely common practice in online cases which favors the accuser over the accused.
In this case the options would likely be the country @moonflower resides in, the country @r4fken resides in, or the countries the operators of SteemIt.com reside in.
necessarily or probably? As I understand it, unless you differ arbitration beforehand with other contracts such as citizenship, the accused has to consent first.