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By Will Sturgeon, 2 June 2003 17:01

NEWS Cyber security body the Anti-Virus Information Exchange Network (Avien) has joined the massed ranks of the opposition to Calgary University's plans to run a virus writing course for computer science students. As with many others in the security industry, Avien's opposition is focused primarily on the University's plans to write new viruses for the purposes of 'dissection'. However, it also believes the course is fundamentally flawed on a number of other levels. A statement released by the organisation said it believes the course "sends the wrong message to students and to current authors of malicious code, by providing a legitimising factor". Avien also had little time for the University's plans to teach students how to write new viruses. "If one wants to understand viruses, one need only examine one or more of the 70,000+ viruses that already exist, not write new ones! "Avien encourages the spread of information but recognises the fundamental disconnect between learning how to produce a virus and the entire gamut of information about how viruses work. "We disagree with the [University's] position that 'a critical element of being able to stop these viruses is to have sufficient knowledge about them to be able to write them'." Avien's website is also carrying a public letter signed by members of the anti-virus community and the wider IT industry. Among the signatories are representatives of McAfee, F-Secure, Hewlett Packard, Kaspersky, Siemens, Sophos and Trend Micro. Although still well in the majority, the Avien line goes against the groundswell of support for the course. Over the weekend silicon.com received a number of emails from readers who believe the course is a vital step in gaining a greater understanding of how to combat viruses - though this argument diminishes slightly given the industry's insistence that it will not employ graduates of the course. Keep the reader comments coming in and we will put together a definitive list of reader feedback - both for and against - for publication later this week. Email your thoughts to editorial@silicon.com. Have your say.