alt Hacker Newsi disagree wholeheartedly with this.
a loved one, gun to the head: "please pay the ransom, i don't want to die!"
what's your play now? save loved one, and go to prison? or worse, bank blocks transfer, and they die?
go ahead and tax ransom payments (0 tax if human life at risk, 10x otherwise) if you have to, but making it illegal feels disconnected from the messiness of the real world. then, go after the attackers.
The idea behind blocking ransom payments is to disincentivize asking for ransom. If you know it's almost impossible to pay ransom, the risk of not getting paid for your attack is much higher.