It’s becoming a common ritual – news of another e-mail virus that threatens the destruction of the computer and its components.

As people are scrambling to get the latest software to protect their computers, the Government of the Student Body Senate has set up an Internet Safety Committee.

“It really got started a year ago when we were getting spammed by the Ames Mall e-mail list,” said Mike Schaefer, committee chairman.

At the beginning of this year, the Ames Mall e-mail list sent out two viruses to computers all over campus, said Schaefer, Interfraternity Council.

It isn’t hard for companies to get access to ISU e-mail accounts, Schaefer said. All companies have to do is go to Alumni Hall and request the list, sign a contract and pay about 2.5 cents per e-mail, he said.

Only a few students ask Iowa State to be removed from the list, Schaefer said. However, there is no way for the university to hold companies liable to the contracts they sign, he said.

“There is really nothing the university can do to stop [viruses] from happening,” he said.

There also is a problem with companies selling the ISU e-mail lists to third parties who never signed the contracts with the university, said Jason Clark, senior in aerospace engineering.

What students can do is to get virus-protection software, Clark said. Free virus software can be downloaded from the university’s Web site, he said.

“The best thing for students to do is protect themselves,” Clark said. “It’s free.”

Companies have the right to buy the list through the Iowa Code’s open meeting, open records laws, Schaefer said.

The GSB Internet Safety Committee will adopt policies in the coming weeks to make companies who buy the lists more accountable for their actions with possible civil legal action, Schaefer said.

The committee also will begin to offer educational programs to students – especially freshmen – on how to keep their computers safe, he said.

“E-mail and Internet viruses are becoming prevalent in our society,” Schaefer said, “yet the majority of people don’t know what is going on.”