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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