Virus Update: US press lay blame at Microsoft's door

The 'I love you' virus continued to dominate the front pages of US newspapers over the weekend with attention turning to perpetrators both inside and outside the industry.

With the hunt for the 'Love Bug' programmer well under way, The Washington Post followed the trail to Manila. Its Sunday edition reported that authorities in the Philippines' have already put a suspect under surveillance.

The man in question, has already been blacklisted by his Internet service provider - Sky Internet - as a result of a previous hacking offence.

Later in the day however, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation stated it is a female college student that is top of its list of suspects.

The Los Angeles Times took a different spin on Saturday, concentrating on Microsoft's unwitting part in the dissemination of the virus. This, the paper said, was due in no small part to the company's much-publicised monopoly.

"The paradox for Microsoft," it wrote, "is that the popularity of the Windows platform encourages more developers to write software for it. And its size makes the software giant an attractive target for virus writers."

If that wasn't enough for the beleaguered company, an innovative piece of technology within Outlook contributed to the rapid spread of 'I love you'. Unlike other messaging applications from the likes of Eudora and Netscape, Outlook automates the forwarding of certain emails. Of course in this instance, that included a virus-ridden email. The paper suggests the virus writer was well aware of this fact.

The article quoted Clay Ryder, chief analyst at Zona Research who came to the software giant's defence. He said blaming Microsoft "was akin to blaming makers of screwdrivers for misdeeds. 'The screwdriver is not a criminal device, but used in a crime it becomes an accessory,' he said."

The Seattle Times, Microsoft's hometown newspaper, was more sanguine. The inevitable message from firewall and anti-virus vendors may be "practice safe Internet", it wrote, but the reality is there is "no magic bullet for computer security".