Internet's Co-Designer: "the more we depend..." on the Internet "...the more vulnerable we become"

Building on my previous post: "Internet Co-designer: "It's every man for himself," the Internet's co-designer, Google's Vint Cerf, made a similarly ominous comment about the future of the Internet to the New York Times last week.

In John Markoff's outstanding front page NYT article: "Thieves winning online war, maybe on your computer" the Internet's co-designer painted a bleak portrait of the safety and security of the Internet going forward.  

• "Many Internet executives fear that basic trust in what has become the foundation of 21st century commerce is rapidly eroding."
• “There’s an increasing trend to depend on the Internet for a wide range of applications, many of them having to deal with financial institutions,” said Vinton G. Cerf, one of the original designers of the Internet, who is now Google’s “chief Internet evangelist.”"
• “The more we depend on these types of systems, the more vulnerable we become,” he said.

Other experts agree. As Mr. Markoff reported yesterday: a government/technology industry panel is pressing the new Administration in a new report to make cyber-security a high national security priority.

• "The report argues that cyber-security is one of the most significant national security threats and that it can no longer be relegated to information technology offices and chief information officers."

Bottom line:

Not only has the new Administration pledged to create a new Chief Technology Officer for the Federal Government, it has pledged to make cyber-security a priority too.

• What we don't know is will there be two White House tech czars, one for technology and one for Cyber-security that need to coordinate closely, or will there be just one tech ultra-czar that effectively manages and subordinates the other's focus and importance?   

It appears that the issues of cyber-security and Internet openness/net neutrality may be converging, as they are opposing sides of the same tech/Internet coin.