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Celebrating Spam's Ten-Year Anniversary

Posted by michael on from the hurray-i-think dept.

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."

23 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. "First"? by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    1. Re:"First"? by Rupert · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      --

      --
      E_NOSIG
    2. Re:"First"? by no+longer+myself · · Score: 5, Interesting
      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".

    3. Re:"First"? by Cowboy+Bebop · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

    4. Re:"First"? by bugnuts · · Score: 5, Funny

      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!"

  2. That's Who by mod_critical · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:That's Who by void+warranty() · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    2. Re:That's Who by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

  3. Why can't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Netcraft confirm that spam is dying?

  4. $11.7 billion... by Walkiry · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    --
    ---- Take the Space Quiz!
  5. kinda scary... by TR0GD0RtheBURNiNAT0R · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    --
    This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    1. Re:kinda scary... by MCZapf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

  6. 10 years... by maztuhblastah · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...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...

    --
    The real litigious bastards...
  7. *sigh*.... by tekiegreg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    ...in bed
  8. 11 Billion? by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  9. Slashdot once again behind the times. by mrshowtime · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
    "Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
  10. The 23rd SPAM by funny-jack · · Score: 5, Funny

    "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.

    --
    You probably shouldn't click this.
  11. Celebration? by lake2112 · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

  12. here's a good mail filter by juggaleaux · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

  13. It's True! Spam works. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  14. We're aiming at the wrong people by $lingBlade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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!

  15. Happy spam anniversaries by ultraslacker · · Score: 5, Informative

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

  16. This was the SECOND. by Mechanist · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
    And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?