It's a common misconception that Al-Gore "invented the internet", when in actuality it was:

• DARPA - developed TCP/IP

• CompuServe - first major commercial ISP

• Time Berners-Lee - developed first web browser using Nextstep

• Prodigy - first online service that offered it's subscribers access to a broad range of networked services

And the internet was never designed with security in mind, the only goal was to make communications with other networks as efficient as possible. As a result unencrypted/unauthenticated http traffic can be manipulated and redirected, and the client-server model (in which our current infrastructure is built upon) allows it to be so, unhinged.. Security is always an afterthought...

Fixed that for you.

http://sethf.com/gore/

While ol' Al certainly overstated his importance, he was a major early player in the usefulness and popularity of the Internet because of the Gore Bill that put Mosaic into production and play (among other things like 600 Million dollars) but he was a promoter and supporter at the government level as early as 1970. By comparison, there are still congressmen today, almost a half century later, that essentially don't know how to use a mouse. His contribution was huge, even critical, according to Leonard Kleinrock, one of the main creators of ARPANET.

So sure... give him an elbow for his massive ego but don't just write him off. He was, in fact, important to the growth and viability of the Interwebz.