I guess it's nice that Calmail is taking steps to battle the Beagle worm, but shouldn't it inform students of the steps it's taking?

The campus's central email system, CalMail, is temporarily discarding, without notification, all messages received which contain ".zip" file attachments.

This action was taken to protect campus email users' computers from infection. Messages containing several recent variants of the W32.Bagel (or W32.Beagle) worm have been arriving in large numbers in campus email inboxes. These worms are using a new technique intended to thwart email virus scanners.

CalMail staff are actively working on measures to detect these worms. Updates regarding any status changes will be posted to the CalMail home page (https://calmail.berkeley.edu/).

People send a lot of regular .zip files. Important ones. What's the harm in sending a mass e-mail letting users know that they're disabled for a short period? Email This Post!