Happy Spamiversary!

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.

Comments

The new math?

[blueskyred]

2004 - 1994 = 20 years? I don't understand that score at all.

Re:The new math?

[whoever57]

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

Fatal flaw in Usenet...

[LostCluster]

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.

There's spam, then there's the partner in crime

[bigberk]

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).

Re:There's spam, then there's the partner in crime

[PretzelBat]

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.

Re:There's spam, then there's the partner in crime

[bigberk]

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?

It was sent in March not April!

[Albanach]

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.