Celebrating Spam's Ten-Year Anniversary

khalua writes "Netcraft has a story that 10 years ago today, the first widely recognized spam was sent by... oh the irony...a law firm. Hate to see what a beast it grows into when it's 20." Reader prostoalex writes "Ever wonder why spam is so prevalent and who buys all those revolutionary products sold at unbelievable prices? Direct Marketing Association estimates $11.7 billion was spent on goods and services pitched via unsolicited e-mail. The average buy was $155, which exceeds the average of $114 that opt-in e-mail generated. It's worth noting that US e-commerce sales in general generated $50 billion total last year, however, the data was presented by a different researcher."

Comments

"First"?

[tverbeek]

Come on... that Canter & Siegel green-card-lottery spam-scam wasn't the first spam by a long-shot... maybe the first spam to get written up the print media. Usenet was already littered with off-topic commercial posts and crossposted garbage by then, and unsolicited e-mailings (on a much smaller scale than today) were hardly unheard-of.

Re:"First"?

[Rupert]

I was pretty heavily into Usenet in 1995. C&S caused a huge increase in the number of posts in the groups I subscribed to. Mostly, those were people complaining about C&S, but it was a pretty significant event, even for netizens.

C&S huge innovation was that it *wasn't* cross-posted. They left a bot running all weekend to post identical messages to every newsgroup. That's why it was such a bitch to cancel them all.

Re:"First"?

[no longer myself]

Heck, I remember when it hit FIDO net during my old BBS days over 10 years ago. I distictly remember objecting to it back then, and was flamed for trying to limit "freedom of speech".

Re:"First"?

[Cowboy Bebop]

I have a much earlier spam. And I bet people here could reply with even earlier ones.

Re:"First"?

[bugnuts]

It by no means was the first. Plenty of spams went out, but were on a small scale (like no more than 20 newsgroups).

Nor was it the first extreme newsgroup spamming. It missed that by a few weeks.

The very first, excruciatingly-painful, extreme Usenet spamming was the "The End of the World is Coming!" by some Jesus-freak. Someone generated cancels for it, and then sent out a message "The End of the World has been Cancelled."

C&S, however, were the first couple of dedicated spammers that proclaimed "we will spam, and be happy to sue anyone that disagrees!"

Re:"First"?

[chickenwing]

The idea of free speech is that people who you do not agree with have the right to express their views.

It is interesting that we have come to a time where corporations (legally equivilant to humans, but with out any of the responsibilities) have more free speech rights than people (remember, money is legally equivalent to speech, but without any of the responsibilies).

So, non-taxpaying legal person entities have the right to use their free speech to help elect our leaders.

Translation...

Corporations are allowed to use money to install a figurehead to help further disempower and enslave regular people.

Remember the great promise of the internet is that any regular person can put their silly ideas up for other regular people to read (like i'm doing now). Just wait until the free-marketers allow one company to own every switch between you and anyone else, then we will see.

I guess this seems a little off topic, but I guess what really bothers me is when corporate entities cry that their free speech is being impeded upon, especially when they use that power to silence real flesh and blood human-beings.

That's Who

[mod_critical]

I'll tell you who buys this stuff:

I had an aquaintence who surfing the web while we were in the library one time and freaked out all of a sudden. She went up to ask the librarian if she wouldn't be able to get her "prize" she just "won" because she was in a library and the "web people" wouldn't know where to find her...

That is who buys this stuff.

Re:That's Who

[Em Emalb]

Sounds like this was an opportunity for you to explain to her it was a scam and perhaps educate one more person....ah hell, who am I kidding?

Stupid twit prolly wonders how all those people "found her". Prolly likes to speak with telemarketers too.

Gah.

Re:That's Who

[Spetiam]

seriously, just out of curiosity, has anyone here actually bought something because of a spam ad or know somebody that did?

but here's the real question: why??

Re:That's Who

[Scaba]

Mmmmm, if only my female acquaintances were so gullible......wait, I don't have any female acquaintances. I've wasted my life with this damn computer!!!

Re:That's Who

[void warranty()]

And because you didn't kill her, the rest of us continue to get spam. Thanks a lot!

Re:That's Who

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, and my penis is now much larger than yours. Which makes me feel far superior than you and not a fool at all for purchasing from a spam message.

Why can't...

[Anonymous Coward]

Netcraft confirm that spam is dying?

$11.7 billion...

[Walkiry]

Ever heard the phrase "follow the money"? Yes? Well, that's what they should be doing with Spam.

kinda scary...

[TR0GD0RtheBURNiNAT0R]

...that people actually buy the stuff in spam... What kind of idiot would--HEY! look! Cheap Viagra! woohoo!!! what luck!

Re:kinda scary...

[MCZapf]

Lots of people, sadly. Pretend you are not so web-savvy. Now pretend you need viagra. You've been thinking about buying some, but are too ashamed to do so. Then a nice offer arrives in your email - with a "discounted" price! You can order it from the privacy of your own home. This might be enough to get you to buy.

10 years...

[maztuhblastah]

...of making my mortage three to four inches larger while working at home for a Nigerian with financial problems who gets paid to take surverys online for a company that would like to pre-apporve me for a no-hassle Platinum card that I can use to pay for tuition at "a major university."






Ok, I'm done now...

*sigh*....

[tekiegreg]

As long as Spam continues to be profitable (and apparently increasingly so), I fear we may never really see the end of it. Even if SMTP protocols are revised, even if Internet postage is applied to emails, as long as you're doing better revenues over your expenses, which in most cases you are, then there is no hope.

Tho I may sound resigned and defeated to e-mail's evenutal fate, there are alternates. Instant messaging is easier controlled (I never get any Spam, but then I don't allow people on my buddy list to IM me). IRC and other online chats are tough to pollute as well.

In short my prediction is in 10 years I will have completely ditched my email address and I will be giving friends my ICQ UIN/AOL Handle/Yahoo Handle in lieu of it.

Ok I'm through ranting, time for everyone else to.

11 Billion?

[badboy_tw2002]

Show me 11 billion from spam and I'll show you a guy with a 4 foot long penis.

Slashdot once again behind the times.

[mrshowtime]

The first spam was sent May 3, 1978 -- 25 years ago . (It was written May 1 but sent on May 3.) The end of the month marks the 11th anniversary of when the first time a USENET posting got named a spam. Once again, Slashdot editors need to start checking the validity of their article before posting.

The 23rd SPAM

[funny-jack]

"The 23rd Spam" by Sam the Psalmist,Toronto, Ontario
(real name withheld by request)

The 23rd Spam

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,
He leadeth me beside the still waters,
He restoreth my credit and consolidateth my debts,
For as little as $1,750,
If I act now.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me,
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
And can now be 50 Percent Larger in Three Weeks.
Guaranteed.

Thou preparest a table before me
In the presence of mine enemies,
Thou annointest my head with oil,
My cup runneth over.
But as an added bonus,
I will receive $1,000.00 cash,
If I complete thy online registration form today.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I will dwell forever,
In the House of the Lord,
Which I shall refinanceth,
To take advantage,
Of the lowest mortgage rates in years.

Celebration?

[lake2112]

There is no way that we should ever "celebrate" spam ... Maybe we can celebrate the eradication of spam, but never the anniversary.

here's a good mail filter

[juggaleaux]

On my Yahoo! mail account I set up a filter that sends anything with "unsubscribe" to the trash automatically. My spam went WAY down. :)

Re:here's a good mail filter

[cabingirl]

You must not belong to very many mailing lists.

$155??

[Mr_Silver]

The average buy was $155

Crikey, thats a lot of penis enlargement pills.

I feel quite inadequate now.

It's True! Spam works.

[Anonymous Coward]

While irritating as hell to many, the sad truth is that spam works. And I know this from first-hand experience (Don't you love AC's!?).

You know all those viagra ads you get? Well chances are it's not from us (I've never met someone who's gotten one of our spams), but maybe you have. In any case, we have margins 100% - 200% higher for people who buy via bulk mail than via other advertising methods, and sales are pretty darn good. I would imagine this isn't too surprising considering the kind of people who would actually respond to spam aren't that wise. In any case, as much as it is hated, it is effective. If it wasn't effective it wouldn't happen.

We're aiming at the wrong people

[$lingBlade]

Apparently we've been trying to stop spam by targeting the wrong people. It seems to me that if we want to stop spam, we need to remove, inhibit or embarrass the people who actually BUY their products as a result of the spam they receive...

now go ahead and mod me flaimbait or troll you useless dickweeds!

Happy Birthday, Spam!

[bryanthompson]

[on the tag of a birthday present to spam]:
To: Spam
From: Everyone

[spam opens package] thousands of spring-loaded snakes carrying advertisements for penis enlargers, viagra, and various pointless gidgets flys out.

Bottom of package reads:
To be removed from this list, email: okstopspammingmeseriously@yeahrightlikethisisareal address.com

Oh, I remember it well

[Call Me Black Cloud]

Back in the halcyon days of grad school, this...this...ad! shows up in a newsgroup I favored. I dashed off an e-mail them (several, in fact) including many full copies of their post. I encouraged my fellow students to do the same.

We were quite happy to learn later the flood of mail took down their server. Yes, there I was riding the crest of the spam fighting movement without even knowing it. And at the time it was just a break from Netrek and posting via anon.penet.fi...

This message has no point. Just some memories of an old guy. Did I ever tell you about programming the Commodore PETs in the math department in high school? It was like this...

A Grain of Salt...

[pangian]

Or how about a ton of salt.

What's that? The *Direct Marketing Association* released a report saying that spam sales accounted for $11.7 billion?

But wait, isn't the DMA the very organization that represents the interests of the spam houses?

Gee, I wonder if they would have an interest in convincing people [particularly retailers] that spam is a successful form of advertising?

And what's that you say? The $11.7 billion estimate is based on calls to 1000 consumers? I wonder how they decided which 1000 people to call? I'll give you a hint...I bet they didn't opt in.

To much admin time on email before spam

[chamilto0516]

C&S invented the SPAM concept on Usenet. I remember that it was not only meant to hit each group but that it was not cross-posted correctly (at all) and that you couldn't delete/kill/read(to be marked read) that message in one group and have it gone from all the other groups. This was a double no-no and wrong on more than one level.

Since SPAM has propogated on to email, I am reminded of my favorite lines out of the Unix Haters Handbook.

The thing that gets me is that one of the arguments that landed Robert Morris, author of "the Internet Worm" in jail was all the sysadmins' time his prank cost. Yet the author of sendmail is still walking around free without even a U (for Unixery) branded on his forehead. -- An email from dm at hri dot com dated 12-Oct-93 in Garfinkle, Weise and Strassman; Unix Haters Handbook; May, 1994; IDG Books Worldwide

The interesting thing is that all this was published before the C&S Usenet spamming. How much time are admins spending on email management now?

SPAM has killed Usenet's usefullness for me. At least filters like Popfile and such are keeping SPAM over email bearable; even if they are not fixing the problem.

Oh Man!

[Savatte]

Everyone on my contact list and in my address book is going to hear about this monumental anniversary! And hopefully they will all forward it to everyone they know!

The only solution to spam

[MyFourthAccount]

Direct Marketing Association estimates $11.7 billion was spent on goods and services pitched via unsolicited e-mail

So how hard can it be to find exactly the companies that sold this stuff?

These are ultimately the companies that are responsible for spam. Why don't we hold them liable? I think I can proof that spam is costing me a significant amount of money (mostly lost time) even though I do have a fairly good working filter.

I hear all the time that we can't really get the spammers because they are in China, or recently because they use zombies/compromised boxes all over the internet. Well, at the end of the day, it's not the spamhouses that are responsible for this. If no-one paid them to spam, it wouldn't be a business.

So someone is paying money to get this spam to you. How come we can't go after them and make them pay?!

revenues

[WormholeFiend]

The black market revenues for hard drugs is in the billions as well, yet no one praises its economic benefits outside of criminal circles.

Happy spam anniversaries

[ultraslacker]

Oddly enough, hormel's spam first appeared on store shelves on March 5, 1937. Heard on the radio this am...

1978: The first internet E-mail spam, sent by DEC

[stuffduff]

If you do some digging at Brad Templeton's Home Page, his History of Spam has a different version of the history. DEC may have not been the first!

This was the SECOND.

[Mechanist]

This report is mistaken. The first large-scale spamming of Usenet preceeded this one by nearly two months. I remember it well, as I used Usenet pretty heavily at the time.

It wasn't lawyers hawking green cards who really got the ball rolling. It was a religious nut warning us all about the end of the world. On January 17, 1994, Clarence L. Thomas IV (not the Supreme Court guy) spammed all known Usenet groups with a message titled Global Alert For All: Jesus is Coming Soon .

You can see the original message in Google's archives. And you can read about some of the after-effects in RISKS 15.49, from February 1994.

Canter & Siegel, the green card spammers, certainly earned their awful reputation. But they were only ripping off someone else's idea.