First Spam Message Nears Its 30th Birthday
Category: InternetPosted: April 25, 2008 12:26PM
Author: Nemo
It was 30 years ago today, now spam has a birthday..... Ouch - major apologies to the Beatles for that introduction. Besides, it isn't today, but May 1 that will mark the 30th anniversary of what is widely recognized as the first spam message ever sent. On May 1, 1978 a marketing rep from Digital Equipment Corporation sent an unsolicited message to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States announcing a product demo of the DECSystem 2020 computer. And the rest, as they say, is history. While the origin of the term 'spam' in reference to unsolicited email remains shrouded in history, the popular belief is that it can be traced back to a Monty Python sketch about Spam, the meat-like food product, and a fad people once had of sending the words to the song to multiple people at once. By the way, did you know that Spam has a purported shelf life of 50 years?
