You Can't Make This Stuff Up
Last Updated: May 15th, 2008 - 08:54:05
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Billions and billions of spam e-mails ago, there was an employee for the Digital Equipment Corporation (remember DEC?) named Gary Thuerk, who came up with the bright idea of using the company’s connection to the Arpanet to promote what was then the latest generation of DEC’s mini computer line (remember mini-computers?).
Thuerk, a marketer for DEC on the West Coast, reportedly thought it would be cool to use the Arpanet mail function to send a message to about 400 local Arpanet users promoting an open-house featuring product demonstrations of DEC’s new DEC System 20 computers. On May 3, 1978, Thuerk sent out his message, heralding the commonly acknowledged beginning of spam e-mail as we know it.
Thirty years later, almost to the day, spam is estimated to make up between 80-90% of all e-mails sent, or about 20 billion messages a day!
Our readers can view the complete text of Thuerk’s original Arpanet message, as well as brief history of the incident and the outraged responses Thuerk received, at this link.
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