the arrival of online platforms – the narrowing of gaps, the availability of various services to individuals and society, the empowerment of marginalized populations, the enhancement of freedom of information, communication, expression, the press and association by connecting the close to the far, etc. (see the groundbreaking article by Prof. Niva Elkin-Koren, The New Intermediaries in the Virtual Public Forum, 6 MISHPAT UMIMSHAL pp. 381-420 (2003) (Hebrew)). As opposed to this, the petition before the Court treats of the manner in which the virtual space provided by the internet can serve as fertile ground for poisonous plants, weeds, and rotten fruit (compare: MApp 2065/13 A. v. State of Israel [9]). In this regard, the internet provides malicious actors with a platform for perpetrating crimes by “remote control”, in far wider dissemination than was available in the “old” world prior to the internet revolution, while the possible ill effects of their acts may embrace sectors and communities that were not previously exposed to the harmful activity. It would appear that this new sphere of activity therefore also requires means of enforcement that differ from the previously accepted methods, which hold the potential for quick, effective frustration of criminal activity on the internet. However, we should emphasize that this petition does not primarily concern adapting the means to the objective and examining the possibility that granting court orders in appropriate cases (pursuant to the statutory enforcement track) constitutes a less harmful means than the voluntary enforcement mechanism. The petition before us concerns the question of the authority to conduct the voluntary activity in the manner and form employed by the Cyber Department. I will, therefore, address these arguments in their order, below, but I will first examine the preliminary arguments raised against the petitioners, which claimed that the petition lacks a sufficient factual foundation, and that the fact that the Petitioners did not join the internet platform operators as respondents requires the dismissal of the petition. Insufficient Factual Grounds 31. In my opinion, it was possible to dismiss the petition on the basis of the absence of sufficient factual grounds for the argument that the Department acts without authority.

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