May 3, 2008 6:46 AM PDT
Spam at 30. Happy birthday, sort of
I prefer my spam...in a can
We'll find out later whether this really is Microhoo Day. If it's another false alarm, May 3 will retain its place in computer history as the day spam was born. Thirty years ago, some guy entered the record books for being the first to pitch unwanted commercial e-mail.
Remember all those predictions about how spam would be resolved by now? Still waiting. Government hasn't figured out the answer. Ditto the technology industry. Wonder if we'll still be bemoaning spam and its discontents 30 years ago from today? (Cue up "Sergeant Pepper" right about now.)
Save up to $300/year on phone bills
http://www.spamhaus.org/Rokso/
Spam still exists because there is no political will to stop it, and now that antispam products are an established category making more money globally than the spammers + spam support services, we see conflicting interests and a decreasing will to remedy the problem. In the meantime, the scourge still causes millions of hours in lost productivity, consumer confusion and lack of trust for all online businesses.