S P A M !!!
The date: May 3, 1978. The culprit: Gary Thuerk, a marketer for the
old Digital Equipment Corporation. His crime: Sending a sales e-mail to
393 users on Arpanet (then a U.S. government computer network and the
predecessor of today's Internet). Little did Thuerk know that he'd just
become the world's first spammer.That first piece of junk e-mail (which wasn't called "spam" until about 15 years later) has been memorialized over at Brad Templeton's Web site (Templeton is a Net pioneer, the creator of the legendary
rec.humor.funny Usenet group, and chairman of the Eletronic Frontier Foundation), along with a thread of outraged replies.
Thuerk's message was first greeted by a stern reprimand
from one Major Raymond Czahor, chief administrator of Arpanet, followed
by a long discussion thread as Arpanet users—many of whom were wary of
censorship on their messaging network—mulled the impact of this first
piece of junk e-mail:
"I don't see any place for advertising on
the ARPAnet," user Mark Crispin wrote at the time. "Certainly not the
bulk advertising of that DEC message. From the address list, it seems
clear to me that the people it was sent to were the Californians listed
in the last ARPAnet directory. This was a clear and flagrant abuse of
the directory! I am not sure as to how far this should be carried
though."
For the record, the pioneering spammer told the Wall Street Journal
that his ground-breaking e-mail worked, drawing scores of leads and
about $12 million in tech sales. Thuerk says he never spammed again,
and he reportedly does promos for spam-fighting companies, but he's not
spending any time blaming himself for the current spam epidemic. "If
the airline loses your luggage do you blame the Wright brothers?" he
told the Journal. I'm not sure I get the logic there, but...whatever.
So, without further ado, here you go—the world's first spam (presented in its original all-caps format):
Mail-from: DEC-MARLBORO rcvd at 3-May-78 0955-PDT
Date: 1 May 1978 1233-EDT
From: THUERK at DEC-MARLBORO
Subject: ADRIAN@SRI-KL
DIGITAL
WILL BE GIVING A PRODUCT PRESENTATION OF THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE
DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY; THE DECSYSTEM-2020, 2020T, 2060, AND 2060T. THE
DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY OF COMPUTERS HAS EVOLVED FROM THE TENEX OPERATING
SYSTEM AND THE DECSYSTEM-10 COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE. BOTH THE
DECSYSTEM-2060T AND 2020T OFFER FULL ARPANET SUPPORT UNDER THE TOPS-20
OPERATING SYSTEM. THE DECSYSTEM-2060 IS AN UPWARD EXTENSION OF THE
CURRENT DECSYSTEM 2040 AND 2050 FAMILY. THE DECSYSTEM-2020 IS A NEW LOW
END MEMBER OF THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY AND FULLY SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE
WITH ALL OF THE OTHER DECSYSTEM-20 MODELS.
WE INVITE YOU TO COME
SEE THE 2020 AND HEAR ABOUT THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY AT THE TWO PRODUCT
PRESENTATIONS WE WILL BE GIVING IN CALIFORNIA THIS MONTH. THE
LOCATIONS WILL BE:
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1978 - 2 PM
HYATT HOUSE (NEAR THE L.A. AIRPORT)
LOS ANGELES, CA
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1978 - 2 PM
DUNFEY'S ROYAL COACH
SAN MATEO, CA
(4 MILES SOUTH OF S.F. AIRPORT AT BAYSHORE, RT 101 AND RT 92)
A
2020 WILL BE THERE FOR YOU TO VIEW. ALSO TERMINALS ON-LINE TO OTHER
DECSYSTEM-20 SYSTEMS THROUGH THE ARPANET. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND,
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT THE NEAREST DEC OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION
ABOUT THE EXCITING DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY.