- Gary Thuerk
Infobox Person
name = Gary Thuerk
caption =
birth_date =
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
other_names = The Father of Spam
known_for = Sending the first spam email.
occupation =Marketing Manager
nationality = AmericanGary Thuerk was the world's first spammer. [ [http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamreact.html Templetons article on Gary Thuerk] .] On May 3, 1978, Carl Gartley, on Thuerk's behalf, sent out the first spam over the network of government and university computers known as the
ARPAnet . [ [http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207500296 Spam Turns 30 And Never Looked Healthier by Thomas Claburn] ] A marketing manager forDigital Equipment Corp., he wanted to publicize open houses in Los Angeles and San Mateo where the company's latest computers would be unveiled.Several thousand people were on the ARPAnet then, most of them computer scientists. Thuerk wanted to send all 600 [ [http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-spam11may11001420,1,2568452.story?coll=la-mininav-technology Los Angeles Times - Opening Pandora's In-Box] ] ARPAnet members on the West Coast an e-mail invitation.
That's when he had his illumination. "It's too much work to send everyone an e-mail," he decided. "So we'll send one e-mail to everyone." The reaction from the net community was fiercely negative, but Thuerk's spam did generate some sales. Thuerk was interviewed on
CBC Television 's SPAM: The Documentary [ [http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/program_171006.html CBC News: The Lens: Spam, The Documentary ] ] .Thuerk's innovation has gotten him into
Guinness World Records . He also does some "promotional work for anti-spam companies." [http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/04/30/we-interview-the-worlds-first-spammer/?mod=WSJBlogWall Street Journal "We Interview the World’s First Spammer" by Ben Worthen accessed May 13, 2008] ]"He says people have one of three reactions when they meet him: Some are excited to meet someone with an unusual claim to fame; some want to beat him up on the spot; and others just avoid him like the plague."
References
External links
* [http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamreact.html#msg Copy of the original message]
* [http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/18084/spam-turning-30-this-month-no-gifts-please/ Yahoo! Tech article on Spam's 30th Birthday]ee Also
*
List of spammers
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