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Cyhist Sep. 23 1997 A
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========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 07:53:23 -0700
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Tom Van Vleck <thvv@BEST.COM>
Subject: CM> history of spam
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Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
>Spamming is a new development of the past two or three years. It developed after the web, not before.
Unsolicited mass electronic mail was sent to all users on MIT's CTSS system by a system programmer in 1968. When I wrote the original MAIL command, I prevented users from sending a message to all users, unless they were members of the system programming project, M1416, or had specific programmer numbers, such as the system administrators. So the problem of spam was anticipated as far back as 1965. (We didn't know what to call it then.)
The idea of letting system programmers send mail to all users was to allow for emergency communication about system operation. I was startled to find that one of the system programming team sent a message to all users that began
THERE IS NO WAY TO PEACE. PEACE IS THE WAY.
and continued with a discussion of inner peace and right conduct. I asked the sender not to use his privilege as a system programmer to carry out private communication. "But this is IMPORTANT," he said.
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Tom Van Vleck <thvv@BEST.COM>
Subject: CM> history of spam
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
>Spamming is a new development of the past two or three years. It developed after the web, not before.
Unsolicited mass electronic mail was sent to all users on MIT's CTSS system by a system programmer in 1968. When I wrote the original MAIL command, I prevented users from sending a message to all users, unless they were members of the system programming project, M1416, or had specific programmer numbers, such as the system administrators. So the problem of spam was anticipated as far back as 1965. (We didn't know what to call it then.)
The idea of letting system programmers send mail to all users was to allow for emergency communication about system operation. I was startled to find that one of the system programming team sent a message to all users that began
THERE IS NO WAY TO PEACE. PEACE IS THE WAY.
and continued with a discussion of inner peace and right conduct. I asked the sender not to use his privilege as a system programmer to carry out private communication. "But this is IMPORTANT," he said.
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