Since the first ‘mass email’ in 1978, there was no turning back. Spam has since grown into a worldwide nuisance; turned 30 over the weekend.

Gary Thuerk, claimed world’s first spammer sent a mass e-mail via the Arpanet, now known as Internet to promote a new system that his company, Digital Electronics Corporation (DEC), was launching then.
Although the mass email was sent to 350 people, it created a commotion not too different from the negative reaction today especially when content was irrelevant and offensive.

An estimation of 80% - 90% of all inboxes is infected with spam mail. What’s not when more than 120 billion junk messages are being sent each day.

Filtering, opt-out list and spam-banning law are very weak form of solutions to curb this nuisance. Filters to begin with is not completely reliable because spam can’t always be identified when messages are sent in bulk. Spam-banning law is also hard to impose when spam crosses continents; making legal action too complicated.

Experts estimate the cost of fighting spam worldwide this year alone will hit $140 billion. Despite the efforts and investment, experts also speculate that spam having to survive for 30 years will continue to celebrate 30 more happy returns.

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