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I don't know how I missed it, but the 30th anniversary of the first recorded instance of spam happened on the 3rd of May.

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, Gary Thuerk, who at the time worked for Digital Equipment Corp., sent what is believed to be the first spam message, an invitation to an open house for a new DEC computer (a VAX 11/780?) that he sent to 400 of the 2,600 or so people who had email accounts on the ARPANET at the time.

Thuerk claims that his email generated about $12 million in new sales. However, many people who received his email also got highly irritated, complained to US Defense Department ( which operated the net) which in turn told him never to do it again. Thuerk says he never did, either.

Thuerk also said in the story that "people have one of three reactions when they meet him: Some are excited to meet someone with an unusual claim to fame; some want to beat him up on the spot; and others just avoid him like the plague."

Unfortunately, if it hadn't been Thuerk, it would have just been someone else. I am surprised, to be honest, that it is only the 30th anniversary of spam. I would have guessed someone would have tried doing it before 1978.