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Spam Is 30 Years Old

Posted by kdawson on from the happy-birthday-now-die-already dept.

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist commemorates spam's 30th anniversary, a week from today. The first spam message — archived here — was sent to 393 users of ARPANET on May 2, 1978 by someone from computing pioneers DEC. They had to type in all the addresses by hand first."

7 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Stallman --- by mingot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Heh, nice pro spam message by RMS there.

  2. And in 30 years... by kevman42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is the first time I've purposely clicked a link to view spam.

    1. Re:And in 30 years... by ducatier · · Score: 5, Funny

      "on 2 may 78 digital equipment corporation (dec) sent out an arpanet message advertising their new computer systems. this was a flagrant violation of the use of arpanet as the network is to be used for official u.s. government business only. appropriate action is being taken to preclude its occurrence again."

      whew, glad they took action, such mis-uses could have gotten out of hand.

  3. Fail! by aliquis · · Score: 5, Funny

    "APPROPRIATE ACTION IS BEING TAKEN TO PRECLUDE ITS OCCURRENCE AGAIN."

    So, uhm, they failed?

    ok i won't write in caps but it's a quote damnit.
    ok i won't write in caps but it's a quote damnit.
    ok i won't write in caps but it's a quote damnit.
    ok i won't write in caps but it's a quote damnit.
    ok i won't write in caps but it's a quote damnit.

  4. Happy birthday Spam! by ohzero · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks for making people focus less on sending me physical junk mail. The development of a spam filter which automatically rubs it in feces and sends it back to the originator wasn't going so well. The robots were the hard part. Stupid robots.

    --
    -- http://www.criticalassets.com
  5. Look who's 70 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those wondering, the original spam (nee Hormel spiced ham) turned 70 last year.

  6. I love this bit... by fm6 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ON 2 MAY 78 DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION (DEC) SENT OUT AN ARPANET MESSAGE ADVERTISING THEIR NEW COMPUTER SYSTEMS. THIS WAS A FLAGRANT VIOLATION OF THE USE OF ARPANET AS THE NETWORK IS TO BE USED FOR OFFICIAL U.S. GOVERNMENT BUSINESS ONLY. APPROPRIATE ACTION IS BEING TAKEN TO PRECLUDE ITS OCCURRENCE AGAIN.

    IN ENFORCEMENT OF THIS POLICY DCA IS DEPENDENT ON THE ARPANET SPONSORS, AND HOST AND TIP LIAISONS. IT IS IMPERATIVE YOU INFORM YOUR USERS AND CONTRACTORS WHO ARE PROVIDED ARPANET ACCESS THE MEANING OF THIS POLICY.

    THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

    MAJOR RAYMOND CZAHOR

    CHIEF, ARPANET MANAGEMENT BRANCH, DCA Did Major Czahor have a 6-bit terminal, or was he just indulging in the traditional military fondness for capital letters? But what's really funny is that he doesn't care about the spamming as such, he just wants to remind everybody that the network was for "U.S. Government Business Only". Which is laughable, since unofficial use of ARPANET was rampant, especially in 1978. That's how Zork got developed, with its authors writing it in pieces and using feedback from the ARPANET community to improve the game. There was also an excellent database of limericks; a friend with ARPANET access was good enough to print it out for me, but I've long since lost it. Anybody seen it online? For that matter, is there a PDP-10 emulator somewhere running the original Zork? Not the Fortran port (which never had the complete game) the original MDL version.