A Brief History of Spam
In the beginning of the internet era, newsgroups on USENET (the online conferencing system), were the main target of spammers. These newsgroups were organized as forums that discussed particular topics. As technology advanced, so did electronic messaging systems, allowing for the practice of crossposting. Crossposting allows people to post the same exact message to multiple newsgroups and online forums.
Unfortunately, this allowed spammers to use crossposting as a tool to their advantage. It made it possible for them to send electronic messages to thousands of newsgroup members simultaneously. The advantage was that they could post to a larger audience without having to differentiate between the interests and focus of the groups they targeted. The worst part of all is it would cost them almost nothing to spam all of these people.
Once email became the largest mode of communication worldwide, spammers started focusing on the massive audience now available to them. This earmarked the use of mass emailing software as another added advantage to spammers, allowing them to flood thousands and thousands of email boxes with unwanted spam.
Spammers used the access of growing internet technology to create the “spambot.” Spambots are automated programs used to search the internet, “harvesting” email addresses from newsgroups along with many other websites. They can gather thousands of email addresses in a single hour, that are used to send create bulk mailing lists that spammers use to send spam to thousands of victims simultaneously.
The act of sending unsolicited “junk” emails and postings has been labeled “spam”. It is believed by most that this term was born from a British comedy skit by Monty Python’s Flying Circus. This skit is based in a restaurant that serves spam with every dish. While the waitress explains to a couple the availability of spam with each dish, a group of Vikings start singing “Spam, Spam, Spam…Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam!” In the 80’s the name was quickly adapted to refer to junk email and posting, and it has been that way ever since.
The largest incident of commercial spamming dates back to 1994, involving two lawyers who spammed Usenet for advertising their services as immigration lawyers. This eventually grew to include emailing in efforts to market their spam. This incident has been labeled the “Green Card Spam.”
Unfortunately this industry has and keeps growing exponentially. More than half of the trillion-plus emails sent out daily are spam. Spam was originally used for advertising, but has grown to include spamming for malicious and criminal purposes. Some of the spam sent out has included viruses and malicious codes, while others are meant to steal identities and money from the recipients.
Spam has completely transformed the way we communicate electronically, whether it is malicious or safe, commercial or criminal, and it will continue to transform for years to come. As much as we all hate spam it has become an annoying fact of online life.
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