Wednesday, August 1st, 2007...8:32 am
The History Of Internet Spam
The New Yorker has a fascinating article on the history of electronic spam. They cover the origins of spam, how it has evolved over the years, as well as the somewhat futile attempts to try and eradicate it.
In the spring of 1978, an energetic marketing man named Gary Thuerk wanted to let people in the technology world know that his company, the Digital Equipment Corporation, was about to introduce a powerful new computer system. DEC operated out of an old wool mill in Maynard, Massachusetts, and was well known on the East Coast, but Thuerk hoped to reach the technological community in California as well. He decided that the best way to do it was through the network of government and university computers then known as the Arpanet. Only a few thousand people used it regularly, but their names were conveniently printed in a single directory. After selecting six hundred West Coast addresses, Thuerk realized that he would never have time to call each one of them, or even to send out hundreds of individual messages. Then another idea occurred to him: what if he simply used the network to dispatch a single e-mail to all of them? “We invite you to come see the 2020 and hear about the DECSystem-20 family,’’ the message read. As historic lines go, it didn’t have quite the ring of “One small step for a man,” yet Gary Thuerk’s impact cannot be disputed. When he pushed the send button, he became the father of spam.
The most amusing part of the article comes from yet another classic quote from Bill Gates where he makes a prediction that not only does not eventuate, but looks downright embarrassing in retrospect.
This is what he had to say when addressing the World Economic Forum in 2004: “Two years from now, spam will be solved.”
Not even close Bill, not even close.
6 Comments
August 1st, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Haha that was a great read. I wonder how planned on solving the spam problem.
August 1st, 2007 at 11:56 pm
I can’t decide which is worse - Spam or MicrosoftPOOP**********
Equally Nauseating!!
;))
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:55 am
Spams will never be solved and this problem is going to be a big problem in coming yeasrs.
Like spams I hate online Money making scams!!!
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:44 am
True spam gets worse and worse in some ways, but spam-catching gets better and better too. All the same, Bill is an idiot
August 4th, 2007 at 8:13 am
“father of Spam”, how would you like that as a legacy.
Also…wonder what Gates meant when he said it would be “solved” vs “resolved”.
And then again, why “Spam”? The could have named it vegemite”. That spreads well.
August 4th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Bill Gates says embarrassing things all the time. His most embarrassing word is Microsoft.
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