Somehow, computer viruses aren't so scary now

By Janet Kornblum
USA Today

Be careful when opening any suspicious mail. That was the warning even before the recent terrorist attacks — only then the warnings were about e-mail messages, and the dangers were worms, Trojan horses and the other digital demons.

But now, computer viruses have never looked so unthreatening, said Steve Jones, a professor of communications and Internet studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "For some years, we've been very aware of getting viruses via e-mail, and there's a certain irony that 'snail mail' is now sending bacteria."

That's why entire organizations — particularly news operations and government offices, though by no means just those entities — are carefully screening, and in some cases discarding, any postal mail that poses even the most remote chance of carrying anthrax-laced powder or other bioterrorism agents. And they're increasingly turning to e-mail.

Wendy Weed, who sells Oracle software products to media companies in New York, usually deals in e-mail but likes to send out event invitations by U.S. mail. Many news organizations, which have been targeted by anthrax attacks, are either not opening mail at all or are being extra cautious about what they will open. "They don't want mail sent," Weed says.

News organizations aren't alone in turning to e-mail. Business recruiter Christy Zeri of Foster City, Calif., said she already prefers e-mail but decided not to take chances in the wake of the anthrax scare. She insists in job placement ads that resumes come to her by e-mail.

The National Football League also has asked fans to stop sending letters to their favorite players and instead send e-mail. And even the Direct Marketing Association urged its membership to send e-mail rather than postal mail.

Though it's too soon to tell what kind of long-term impact the anthrax scare will have on the way we communicate, some experts predict it will provide another boost to the already surging use of e-mail.