One of the Internet's founders said Wednesday there were important weaknesses in the Bush administration's plans to build an ultra-secure government network and to encourage companies to make computers safer for consumers. Vinton G. Cerf, widely recognized as a "father of . . .
One of the Internet's founders said Wednesday there were important weaknesses in the Bush administration's plans to build an ultra-secure government network and to encourage companies to make computers safer for consumers. Vinton G. Cerf, widely recognized as a "father of the Internet" for co-inventing one of its communications technologies, warned against a White House proposal to have software companies automatically repair their products whenever new vulnerabilities were discovered.

Last week, the president's top computer security adviser complained to some technology executives that consumers and businesses routinely fail to install software fixes -- known as "patches" -- even as vendors make them freely available. Richard Clarke said it was "not beyond the wit of this industry to force patches down" to users.

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