Vint Cerf Says It's Every Machine For Itself

Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian has an interesting story on Vint Cerf, the 'father of the internet,' in which he says there's no silver bullet for scammers, spammers and criminals running zombie networks and porn-to-porn file swapping because 'the internet was designed that way.' Cerf adds, 'Like every medium, the internet can be abused. When we think about it, we can commit fraud locally and internationally using the telephone system and postal service.' However, Cerf is also convinced that it's the internet's openness — in allowing people with new ideas to do their thing without getting anyone's permission — that is the main source of its power, and he is against the idea of a two-tier internet with a trusted, controlled 'overnet' for commercial and business use, and an 'undernet' where anything goes. 'My bias right now tends to be "It's every man for himself" — you need to be suspicious whether you're inside the trusted cloud or not, and when it fails, the house of cards tends to collapse.'"

Comments

Vint Cerf: senile father of the internet

[Anonymous Coward]

Entirely responsible for the unmitigated disaster that is IPv6. All round vain and unpleasant person. Now busy wanking about interplanetary networks while IPv6 continues to sit and stink largely because of his bullheaded management of the committee. Hasn't done a thing of use at Google, other than to try to end the much loved "testing on the toilette" institution, one of the few brights spots in the dismal life of servitude for your average Google peon.

Mod me down, but this is just the plain truth.