Saturday, May 3, 2008

Happy B'Day , Junk Mail Turns 30, and Growing

You got junk mail. Thank god for delete button and spam filters but they still get through.
The message sent on May 3, 1978 by a marketer for the now defunct DEC computer company to around 400 people on the west coast of the US wasn’t called spam, and the sender dispatched it without ill intent.

Gary Thuerk, a marketer for the old Digital Equipment Corporation sents ales e-mail to 393 users on Arpanet (then a U.S. government computer network and the predecessor of today's Internet). Unwittingly he'd just become the world's first spammer.

That first piece of junk e-mail (the term "spam" came about 15 years later) has been memorialized over at Brad Templeton's Web site.

Thuerk says he never spammed again, and he reportedly does promos for spam-fighting companies, but he's not spending any time blaming himself for the current spam epidemic. "If the airline loses your luggage do you blame the Wright brothers?" he told the Journal.

Spamming is a not as simple as sending bulk mail to people any longer, much more sophistication has crept in.The percentage of spam sent to account holders on G mail quadrupled between 2004 and 2008, climbing from 20 per cent to around 80 per cent.

Methods of spamming have changed in the last 30 years. Whereas the sender of the first spam had to type in each recipient’s address individually, today the job is often done remotely, using cyber-monsters called botnets.

Botnets have hijacked around 30 per cent of personal and office computers with inadequate security features, and use them to dispatch spam in millions each day.

Last year, 75 per cent of Americans who were tricked by Internet fraudsters into parting with 239.09 million dollars were ensnared through a spam message, according to a report by the FBI.

But despite the warnings, the spammers still fish and people still bite.

As the saying goes "there is a sucker spammed every second"

Forward this to 100 people and win exciting prizes...just kidding. Happy B'day junk mail.


The First Spam Mail:


Mail-from: DEC-MARLBORO rcvd at 3-May-78 0955-PDT
Date: 1 May 1978 1233-EDT
From: THUERK at DEC-MARLBORO
Subject: ADRIAN@SRI-KL

DIGITAL WILL BE GIVING A PRODUCT PRESENTATION OF THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY; THE DECSYSTEM-2020, 2020T, 2060, AND 2060T. THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY OF COMPUTERS HAS EVOLVED FROM THE TENEX OPERATING SYSTEM AND THE DECSYSTEM-10 COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE. BOTH THE DECSYSTEM-2060T AND 2020T OFFER FULL ARPANET SUPPORT UNDER THE TOPS-20 OPERATING SYSTEM. THE DECSYSTEM-2060 IS AN UPWARD EXTENSION OF THE CURRENT DECSYSTEM 2040 AND 2050 FAMILY. THE DECSYSTEM-2020 IS A NEW LOW END MEMBER OF THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY AND FULLY SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE WITH ALL OF THE OTHER DECSYSTEM-20 MODELS.

WE INVITE YOU TO COME SEE THE 2020 AND HEAR ABOUT THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY AT THE TWO PRODUCT PRESENTATIONS WE WILL BE GIVING IN CALIFORNIA THIS MONTH. THE LOCATIONS WILL BE:

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1978 - 2 PM
HYATT HOUSE (NEAR THE L.A. AIRPORT)
LOS ANGELES, CA

THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1978 - 2 PM
DUNFEY'S ROYAL COACH
SAN MATEO, CA
(4 MILES SOUTH OF S.F. AIRPORT AT BAYSHORE, RT 101 AND RT 92)

A 2020 WILL BE THERE FOR YOU TO VIEW. ALSO TERMINALS ON-LINE TO OTHER DECSYSTEM-20 SYSTEMS THROUGH THE ARPANET. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT THE NEAREST DEC OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXCITING DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY.


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