Thirty years ago on May 3rd, 1978, the first unsolicited commercial email advertising a product that people really didn't want went out over the precursor to the Internet, the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency network, or Arpanet.
The email, from the now-defunct computer manufacturer Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), arrived at only 393 inboxes, but was still roundly criticized. The unwanted email didn't even get an official name (as spam) until 15 years later.
The message, sent by a salesman named Gary Thuerk, read:
"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."
Nowadays spam is big business, not just for those who send it, but for those who write software to block it. It's estimated that 75% of all emails sent is spam.
In case you don't know, BTW, Pfizer manufactures Viagra, one of the more popular, er, spam topics. And for the record, Spam, the canned-meat version anyway, turned 70 last year.
Source: By Tech Ex
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