Declan McCullagh is an American journalist and columnist for CNET's news.com. He specializes in computer security and privacy issues. He is notable, among other things, for his early involvement with the media interpretation and misinterpretation of U.S. presidential candidate Al Gore's statement that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet." McCullagh himself once claimed that "If it's true that Al Gore created the Internet, then I created the 'Al Gore created the Internet' story."