You're right, it could be considered extortion. I'll retract that as even an implied recommendation.
In this case, it doesn't seem like they have a contract, so the remedy might be to just "undo" the deal as best they can.
Unfortunately, without a contract, there probably isn't a statutory remedy, and they'd have to go to court. That's why I said s/he definitely should not actually revert the code.
My suggestion also took into account the 1st Amendment, which protects speech that has content. In this case, s/he's saying "this is how I feel about it" and "it would be morally justified", both of which have content beyond any sort of implied threat.
All that said, I'm not a lawyer, and no one should take anything I say as legal advice.
Comments
You're right, it could be considered extortion. I'll retract that as even an implied recommendation.
In this case, it doesn't seem like they have a contract, so the remedy might be to just "undo" the deal as best they can.
Unfortunately, without a contract, there probably isn't a statutory remedy, and they'd have to go to court. That's why I said s/he definitely should not actually revert the code.
My suggestion also took into account the 1st Amendment, which protects speech that has content. In this case, s/he's saying "this is how I feel about it" and "it would be morally justified", both of which have content beyond any sort of implied threat.
All that said, I'm not a lawyer, and no one should take anything I say as legal advice.