Not-so-happy birthday: Spam mail turns 35

One of the biggest headaches on the Internet just turned 35 over the weekend, and no one appears too thrilled about it.

 

Spam —originally a brand of canned meat that has since become synonymous with unsolicited email— was first sent on the Internet's predecessor on May 3, 1978.

 

A report on PC World said that on that day, Digital Equipment Corp. marketer Gary Thuerk sent a message to a mailing list of 393 people to promote his company's newest product.

 

"The practice was immediately condemned by Arpanet users, but the mailing did sell a computer or two for DEC, which only encouraged spammers, who were willing tolerate a little revulsion in exchange for sales," PC World said.

 

GeekoSystem.com recalls the first spam message, in all caps no less. Parts of it go:

 

 

A separate article on Templetons.com gives more gory details of the first spam message, including the intended recipients —along with what appears to be the first public backlash against spam.

 

Yet PC World said the motive that drove that first spam message remains alive today.

 

"That profit motive remains strong today—and for good reason. According to a 2011 study by the University of California at San Diego, a spammer can make as much as $7000 a day," it said.

 

It added that from that 1978 mail, spam "grew from an annoyance to 500 or so souls on a fledgling network to a headache for millions."

 

Citing the latest spam report from Kaspersky Lab, spam accounts for up to 70.1 percent of the bandwidth consumed by email - and that's considering spam is "declining."

 

"While 70 percent sounds like a lot, spam traffic has actually been declining in recent times due to a combination of factors. Spam filters have gotten more sophisticated in blocking the junk, for example. Law enforcement agencies have gotten tougher on spammers and spam fighters have taken down some of the large networks spewing the digital detritus," it said. — TJD, GMA News