At least according to legend, it was Rabbi Yehuda Leva, the Maharal of Prague, a 16th-century man, who created a golem to deter the Gentiles who invented blood libels. To him his soul.
One Saturday the rabbi forgot to take out the soul of his robot, and Helz, who was out of his master's control, went on a rampage and hit people indiscriminately.
The Maharal was frightened by the consequences of his negligence, and ran after him through the streets of Prague until he managed to take control of it near the synagogue and get his spirit out of it. When his spirit came out, the golem shattered to pieces.
The spy affair is very similar to a legend about the golem from Prague.
Sometimes humanity produces amazing tools in their capacity, and then it is forced to make efforts to restrain them so that they do not destroy any good part.
What has now been revealed about the alleged use of spyware by the creator of NSO and other creators is a story of loss of control, which struck like a boomerang at the one who untied it without worrying about adequate control.
I am one of those who welcome the existence of such tools by the GSS and the police. They are supposed to save the temptation to use physical means ("moderate") towards detainees, and there is quite a blessing in that.
But the question is who is responsible for the delicate balance between preserving the rights and privacy of the individual and preserving public peace.
Who is he who understands the degree of penetration into the realm of the individual, the possible consequences of this injury, and is able to overcome the temptation and not use it, even when it is quite clear that the use may meet one specific need or another.
Whatever the prosecution's response to Netanyahu's judges, whatever the outcome of the broadest investigation, one thing is clear: what was revealed in Calcalist's journalistic investigation is a terrifying revelation of the results of the police system's careless use of tools.
Anyone who wants to pull it in the political-party direction, to claim that everything happened during the years of Netanyahu's administration and that those responsible for the talk are all people he appointed, and whoever wants to claim that the use was made by his people who disobeyed and decided to oust him - will soon find out.
The unbearable ease of using such seductive tools, while hiding behind judges' credentials, is the mother of all sin.
Only a new and professional framework headed by a judge with cyber experts, who will deal with permissions for the use of spyware, will be able to stop the drift, and it would be nice to set it up one hour earlier.
Then it will be possible to come to terms with those who abused the powers given to them.
Were we wrong?
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