The first spam

Who was the first spammer? But above all, is there a first spammer?
It exists. From my research on the net I discovered the name and surname of the one who is considered the first spammer. The first therefore to have sent unsolicited emails to a large number of recipients.
His name is Gary Thuerk, a salesman at the very serious and unsuspected Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), which on May 1, 1978 sent the publicity of DEC products to 400 ARPANet users. He defends himself by saying that he is not the first spammer, but rather considers himself the inventor of e-marketing. He also tells that following that e-mail campaign, he sold material worth between $ 13 and $ 14 million. A great success at the end.

But the story of spam, unsolicited advertising seems to be much older, dates back to 1864!

It seems that one evening in May 1864, many British politicians were seen delivering a telegram. Given the unusual time, worried, they opened the envelope and found no news about the health of the queen, but the advertising of a dentist. The gentlemen Gabriel inform everyone that their study remains open from 10 to 10 until October. Infuriated many wrote to the Times reporting this abuse, the Times then proceeded to print and then to report the telegram awkward, thus providing additional publicity to the study.

References:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Equipment_Corporation
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2539767/cybercrime-hacking/unsung-innovators--gary-thuerk--the-father-of-spam.html
https://www.voltage.com/email/the-very-first-spam/
http://www.safko.com/worlds-first-spam-email/

Comments