Until money no longer becomes a reliable measure of value and then everything goes to hell.
Right now we are benefitting both from the stability of the US Dollar, as well as from the benefits of pumping more and more of it into the system (rising asset prices etc), if they lose the ability to maintain this balancing act it won't be pretty.
I don't dispute that there is evidence that 67 phones had been targeted with Pegasus software. I am however skeptical of that justifying an international breaking news story that so-and-so is on the "list" without having checked if their phone has been infected.
I'm not suggesting we take their word for it at all. I brought this point because some times in the "denial" you see their admittance (which isn't the case here).
It's just a bit weird that media couldnt bother to test more than 67 phones before coming out with this breaking international story.
I've seen no PR blitz. I'm honestly just a little skeptical seeing how some stories gained mainstream acceptance over the years without much basis in fact
Another part of this story is that the company completely denies their connection to this "list".
The media thus far has presented very little evidence that this list is actually from NSO Group.
They have provided no information on how this list was obtained and 67 phones (out of 50k) seems like a very small amount of phones (with a 55 percent success rate) to use as a basis for an international story across many major media outlets. These stories only consist of that this or this person is on the "list" (no evidence at all of spyware on their phone).
Act II is grossly misrepresented. It wasn't just the GOP and a lot of evidence was presented. In fact, there hasn't been a whole lot of new evidence presented since then.
Just want to point out that this argument is not universally accepted by modern halachic (Jewish law) authorities.
Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, a very prominent orthodox Jewish halachist held that closing/opening an electrical circuit does not constitute the biblical prohibition of building and destroying.
Instead, he held that that electricity was prohibited "Rabbinically" for an unrelated reason (which is of a lower degree of severity, which has practical implications).
Notwithstanding this, if one say, turns on an incondescent lightbulb I believe that is biblically prohibited according to all because of the heat it generates.
It just happened to be that Google, Apple and Amazon all banned Parler within hours of each other, shortly after all the big social media companies banned President Trump, thus boosting Parler as an alternative social media platform.
This is not about fiduciary duty, nor is it about legal liability, this is a Silicon Valley hivemind moving in unison, arguably as a result of unhealthy discourse on their own social medias.
Since the beginning of time, civil societies have had police and a justice system. I know it's in the old testament.
Society needs an authority to turn to to resolve disputes or injustice and to maintain order, the alternative is chaos.
That authority may not be perfect, it may have certain biases that need to be worked on, but without it, disputes will be won by the superior marksman.
Banning militia groups or similar groups or speech has upfront benefits but hidden costs.
Facebook taking responsibility for such activity will inevitably to other very difficult decisions down the road.
One mans terrorist is another's freedom fighter. There are many such conflicts all over the world, and at a certain point no objective criteria can be used to censure.
Notwithstanding the relatively small amount purchased, the question remains still: is this something the federal reserve should be engaged in in the first place? And what are the long term consequences of even the perception of such behavior?
Right now we are benefitting both from the stability of the US Dollar, as well as from the benefits of pumping more and more of it into the system (rising asset prices etc), if they lose the ability to maintain this balancing act it won't be pretty.