Canter & Siegel
Encyclopedia
Laurence A. Canter and Martha S. Siegel (April 9, 1948 – 2000) were partners in a husband-and-wife firm of lawyers who on April 12, 1994 posted the first massive commercial Usenet
spam. To many people, this event, coming not long after the National Science Foundation
lifted its unofficial ban on commercial speech on the Internet
, marks the end of the Net's early period, when the original netiquette
could still be enforced.
Canter and Siegel were not the first Usenet spammers
. The "Green Card" spam was, however, the first commercial Usenet spam, and its unrepentant authors are seen as having fired the starting gun for the legions of spammers that now occupy the Internet.
, but Benson was unable to write their software. In April 1994 they used a Perl
script written by a Phoenix programmer known only as "Jason", to generate advertisements for their service of enrolling people in a "green card lottery
". This US government program allocates a limited quantity of "green cards" to certain non-citizens, allowing them to stay and work in the country. The two lawyers offered to do the necessary paperwork for a fee.
Canter and Siegel sent their advertisement, with the subject "Green Card Lottery - Final One?", to at least 5,500 Usenet discussion groups, a huge number at the time. Rather than cross-posting a single copy of the message to multiple groups, so a reader would only see it once (considered a common courtesy when posting the same message to more than one group), they posted it as separate postings in each newsgroup, so a reader would see it in each group they read. Their internet service provider
, Internet Direct, received so many complaints that its mail servers crashed repeatedly for the next two days; it promptly terminated their service. Despite the ire directed at the two lawyers, they posted another advertisement to 1,000 newsgroups in June 1994. This time, Arnt Gulbrandsen put together the first software "cancelbot
" to trawl Usenet and kill their messages within minutes. The couple claimed in a December 1994 interview to have gained 1,000 new clients and "made $100,000 off an ad that cost them only pennies".
On May 5, 1994 the couple established a company called Cybersell, with the web domain of www.sell.com (now belonging to sell.com classifieds). They promoted themselves as experts in the then-new business of online retail and in February 1995 undertook the first known commercial spamming on behalf of clients (so-called "spam for hire"). They wrote a book entitled How to Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway : Everyone's Guerrilla Guide to Marketing on the Internet and Other On-line Services (ISBN 0-06-272065-1). In 1997, Martha Siegel published a revised version entitled How to Make a Fortune on the Internet (ISBN 0-06-273466-0) under her name only.
In 1997, the Supreme Court of Tennessee disbarred Canter in part for illegal advertising practices. William W. Hunt III, of the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, said at the time that he believed it was the first time a lawyer had been disciplined for Internet advertising practices. Cybersell was dissolved by default in March 1998 after repeatedly failing to file annual reports or pay its incorporation fees.
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
spam. To many people, this event, coming not long after the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
lifted its unofficial ban on commercial speech on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, marks the end of the Net's early period, when the original netiquette
Netiquette
Netiquette is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks, ranging from Usenet and mailing lists to blogs and forums. These rules were described in IETF RFC 1855. However, like many Internet phenomena, the concept and its application remain in a state of flux, and vary...
could still be enforced.
Canter and Siegel were not the first Usenet spammers
Newsgroup spam
Newsgroup spam is a type of spam where the targets are Usenet newsgroups.Spamming of Usenet newsgroups actually pre-dates e-mail spam. The first widely recognized Usenet spam was posted on 18 January 1994 by Clarence L. Thomas IV, a sysadmin at Andrews University...
. The "Green Card" spam was, however, the first commercial Usenet spam, and its unrepentant authors are seen as having fired the starting gun for the legions of spammers that now occupy the Internet.
Green card spam
In early 1994, Canter and Siegel contracted with Leigh Benson to write a program to advertise on UsenetUsenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
, but Benson was unable to write their software. In April 1994 they used a Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
script written by a Phoenix programmer known only as "Jason", to generate advertisements for their service of enrolling people in a "green card lottery
Diversity Immigrant Visa
The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is a United States congressionally mandated lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card. It is also known as the Green Card Lottery. The lottery is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms...
". This US government program allocates a limited quantity of "green cards" to certain non-citizens, allowing them to stay and work in the country. The two lawyers offered to do the necessary paperwork for a fee.
Canter and Siegel sent their advertisement, with the subject "Green Card Lottery - Final One?", to at least 5,500 Usenet discussion groups, a huge number at the time. Rather than cross-posting a single copy of the message to multiple groups, so a reader would only see it once (considered a common courtesy when posting the same message to more than one group), they posted it as separate postings in each newsgroup, so a reader would see it in each group they read. Their internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
, Internet Direct, received so many complaints that its mail servers crashed repeatedly for the next two days; it promptly terminated their service. Despite the ire directed at the two lawyers, they posted another advertisement to 1,000 newsgroups in June 1994. This time, Arnt Gulbrandsen put together the first software "cancelbot
Cancelbot
A cancelbot is an automated or semi-automated process for sending out third-party cancel messages over Usenet, commonly as a stopgap measure to combat spam.-History:...
" to trawl Usenet and kill their messages within minutes. The couple claimed in a December 1994 interview to have gained 1,000 new clients and "made $100,000 off an ad that cost them only pennies".
On May 5, 1994 the couple established a company called Cybersell, with the web domain of www.sell.com (now belonging to sell.com classifieds). They promoted themselves as experts in the then-new business of online retail and in February 1995 undertook the first known commercial spamming on behalf of clients (so-called "spam for hire"). They wrote a book entitled How to Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway : Everyone's Guerrilla Guide to Marketing on the Internet and Other On-line Services (ISBN 0-06-272065-1). In 1997, Martha Siegel published a revised version entitled How to Make a Fortune on the Internet (ISBN 0-06-273466-0) under her name only.
In 1997, the Supreme Court of Tennessee disbarred Canter in part for illegal advertising practices. William W. Hunt III, of the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, said at the time that he believed it was the first time a lawyer had been disciplined for Internet advertising practices. Cybersell was dissolved by default in March 1998 after repeatedly failing to file annual reports or pay its incorporation fees.
External links
- Ben Delisle, Green Card Lottery - Last Call - 1994 Usenet post giving background on Canter and Siegel]
- Ray Everett-Church, "The Spam That Started It All", Wired magazine, April 13, 1999
- Sharael Feist, "The father of modern spam speaks", CNET News, March 26, 2002
- John M. Moran, "The Spam Heard Around The World", Hartford Courant, June 30, 2002
- Neil Swidey, "Spambusters", The Boston Globe, October 10, 2003