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Happy Spamiversary!

Posted by timothy on from the it-would-have-been-someone dept.

Shippy writes "Ten years ago today, a pair of Arizona attorneys launched a homemade marketing software program that forever changed the Internet. It was the birth of spam. They did this by whipping up a Perl script that flooded message boards advertising their legal services." Update: 04/14 05:26 GMT by S : That'd be ten years ago, not twenty.

12 of 345 comments (clear)

  1. The new math? by blueskyred · · Score: 5, Insightful
    2004 - 1994 = 20 years? I don't understand that score at all.

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    Online wrestling as a trading card game? WWF With Authority.
    1. Re:The new math? by whoever57 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even PERL did not exist in 1984! It was released in 1987.

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      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    2. Re:The new math? by MikeDX · · Score: 2, Insightful

      there is no such thing as 300 in base 3, thats like saying your iq is 200 (in binary)

    3. Re:The new math? by tomstdenis · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Code blocks like that don't really impress me. Anyone can write code, remove all white-space, use terse meaningless variable names and call it "l33t". My classes are full of people like that. Except they're not doing it intentionally.

      What is at least somewhat cool is people who make designs out of code that still compile [e.g. dolphins, trees, etc...]

      Also I saw a "fork"in there.... i dunno if I would run a Perl script that I can't decipher with a fork in there.... actually I wouldn't run perl scripts like that at all unless I was some dummy user without access to my home dir...

      Tom

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  2. jerks by PeaceTank · · Score: 2, Insightful

    man, those people should be shot

  3. Fatal flaw in Usenet... by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This was a knockout blow to Usenet as the mainstream way of Internet peer-publication, as you might notice that Slashdot here is a web-based interface and so are the other mainstream "web-boards" that are commonly in use.

    Web boards today aren't bulletproof against spam, but they've at least raised the bar high enough that the cost of writing a program to defeat the security would wipe out any profits from a spam exercise.

  4. Re:I thought... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    the first spam was a guy who spammed on arpanet for high end computer systems. Am I crazy?

    At least you're not crazy enough to read the article.

  5. There's spam, then there's the partner in crime by bigberk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I point the finger at Microsoft, partner in crime of spam.

    Why? Trust me, I know spam to the tune of 10,000 spams daily collected at my distributed spamtraps. Overwhelming, spam is arriving through Windows hosts on broadband connections. Ask any mail admin this and they'll tell you the same.

    It's not because it's broadband; it's because Windows machines are so goddam easy to compromise remotely and execute code on. Just today there was a big patch released for 20 major flaws, of which 8 can lead to remote code execution. It's time we stop shrugging off as spam and realize that Microsoft is responsible for the flood of spam we get today. The flaws in their software will be exploited X days from now in the next automated worm zombie-bot.

    Anti-spammers have been doing a great job putting the pressure on spam-friendly ISPs (spamhauses, etc.). We can stop those jerks from hosting spammers. But Windows users, hell, they're everywhere. So it's time Microsoft is forced to take responsibility for causing a worldwide menace with their product. It's in their power to fix (don't let them try to sell you a spam solution... hell, they created the problem).

    1. Re:There's spam, then there's the partner in crime by PretzelBat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's a great point. Did you also know that some 90-95% of all telemarketing calls are routed through the four major telephone companies?

      Also, some 80% of all automobile accidents resulting in FATALITIES occur because at least one driver is using a vehicle made by one of the popular car manufacturers!!!

      Believe me, this sort of problem is all over the place.

    2. Re:There's spam, then there's the partner in crime by bigberk · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Believe me, this sort of problem is all over the place.
      Except telemarketing calls go over telephone trunks that behave properly (to specification and without flaws), and the car accidents also happen with cars that don't have any major flaws or design problems.

      On the other hand, spam is arriving through Windows hosts compromised because they are running faulty software. There are so many bugs in the OS and 'integrated' components (IE, Outlook) that it has gotten ridiculous. The product is flawed and broken, unlike your telecom example and unlike the cars that are involved in accidents. You see how this is differenT?
  6. It was sent in March not April! by Albanach · · Score: 3, Insightful
    To make it worse, the date isn't even correct. The spam was sent on 5th March according to archive.org and a quick check at google groups finds references even older than that.

    Seems they just picked a date so they could say today is the tenth aniversary.

  7. Re:1994 by OwlWhacker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, companies that require 10 years experience in a particular field, what do they do if something is only just available? Do they wait for 10 years before hiring anybody to work in that area?

    Experience using Windows isn't really worth much anyway. I'm sure we all know people that have used Windows since 95 was released and still hardly know how to use it.

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