WastedTimes

[hbgator]

The date: May 3, 1978. The culprit: Gary Thuerk, a marketer
for the old Digital Equipment Corporation. His crime:
Sending a sales e-mail to 393 users on Arpanet (then a U.S.
government computer network and the predecessor of today's
Internet). Little did Thuerk know that he'd just become the
world's first spammer.

That first piece of junk e-mail (which wasn't called "spam"
until about 15 years later) has been memorialized over at
Brad Templeton's Web site (Templeton is a Net pioneer, the
creator of the legendary rec.humor.funny Usenet group, and
chairman of the Eletronic Frontier Foundation), along with
a thread of outraged replies.

So, without further ado, here you go—the world's first
spam
(presented in its original all-caps format):

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.

Thuerk's message was first greeted by a stern reprimand
from one Major Raymond Czahor, chief administrator of
Arpanet, followed by a long discussion thread as Arpanet
users—many of whom were wary of censorship on their
messaging network—mulled the impact of this first piece
of
junk e-mail:

"I don't see any place for advertising on the ARPAnet,"
user Mark Crispin wrote at the time. "Certainly not the
bulk advertising of that DEC message. From the address
list, it seems clear to me that the people it was sent to
were the Californians listed in the last ARPAnet directory.
This was a clear and flagrant abuse of the directory! I am
not sure as to how far this should be carried though."

For the record, the pioneering spammer told the Wall Street
Journal that his ground-breaking e-mail worked, drawing
scores of leads and about $12 million in tech sales. 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. I'm not sure I get the
logic there, but...whatever.

Check out New Scientist Tech for an exhaustive story
summarizing the history of spam and the top techniques used
by spammers, including "botnets," "zombie" computers, and
"word salad"—the odd literary excerpts that spammers use
to
fool junk mail filters.

You can also click here for our latest news and tips on
beating back the flood of spam.

In the meantime...happy birthday, spam. You're looking
younger every day. Sorry in advance for skipping the party.