The year is 1978, the ARPAnet connects research institutions and government think tanks across the country.  These are the early days of the Internet, when things were pure and clean, and unsullied by the garbage we dig through today in our daily use.  It was in the spring of that year though that the slow downward spiral began.  The first spam email.

Looking back, we can blame the start of spam on one man at once company, Gary Thuerk at the Digital Equipment Corporation in Maynard, Massachusetts.  You see, DEC had a new product coming out later that year, and Gary wanted to spread the word to the folks on the West Coast, since DEC was well-known on the East Coast already.  But, instead of calling or emailing users individually to talk to them, the idea struck him that he could just send one message to everyone in one pass.  Of course, this was a period where you could conceivably have every address on the network listed in a text document, and the file wouldn't be that big.

The reaction to this first ever mass email advertisement?  Overwhelming hostility.

Click below to read the complete history of spam, from humble beginnings, to blight of the electronic landscape.