No party for this birthday: Spam’s 30

Users condemned annoyance at start

Thirty years ago today, the first unsolicited commercial e-mail went out over the research network that was the Internet’s predecessor — and the modern aggravation of spam was born.

That e-mail, sent to advertise a new machine from the now-defunct computer manufacturer Digital Equipment Corp., was swiftly and forcefully condemned by the tiny community of engineers developing the Arpanet, or Advanced Research Projects Agency network, named after the Defense Department office that funded the project.

By TOM ABATE
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Full Story: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/361661_spam03.html