This is one anniversary which few will be celebrating. It is hard to believe that the first spam email message was sent 30 years ago. Do you think that first single message was as irritating as the mass amounts that we now receive each and every day? Did those first recipients think it was an innovative and novel idea? If so, I wonder if their opinion has changed any over the years.

In honor of spam’s 30th anniversary, here are some spam facts to enjoy... or curse, the option is yours.

Who invented spam?

And just who was that first spammer? He was a marketing representative that worked at Digital Equipment Corporation by the name of Gary Thuerk. On May 3, 1978 he sent a spontaneous and more importantly, unsolicited electronic message to 393 recipients on ARPANET. He was advertising DEC’s new computer model.

Why is it called spam?

It is said that the term spam came about thanks to a Monty Python sketch from 1970. The sketch features a restaurant which only serves variations of Spam luncheon meat. A waiter is describing each Spam dish as a group of Vikings begin singing, “Spam, lovely Spam, wonderful Spam!” The frequent and excessive usage of the word Spam leads to the term Spamming.

The chairman of the board at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Brad Templeton states that the term soon became popular in chat rooms, usually referring to unsolicited bulk e-mails.

How has spam changed over the years?

An antispam organization called Spamhaus, has reported that an estimated 90% of all electronic messages are spam. Billions of spam e-mails are generated each day. This is a far cry from one transmission of 393 back in 1978.

The threat from spam has become a real problem. Beyond simple annoyance, spam has the potential to be devastating. In addition to slowing down networks and your system, spam has been known to introduce harmful viruses into systems paving the way for real modern day threats of identity theft and complete system failure. In the technological dependent world we live in, system failure can bring life or business to a standstill.

At the invention of the internet and e-mail, the majority of sources were trustworthy. This is not the case today. Unfortunately, the internet soon became a breeding ground for the greedy, and this is why we have spam today.

So, if you are a die-hard technology fan, feel free to celebrate spam in your own way. Even 30 years later there are few real anti spam solutions available.

Me, I am going to break out my old Monty Python VHS tapes and Google a recipe for Spam Soufflé.