And the vast majority go to people who don't want them. Well, you probably don't need to imagine. You've probably gotten enough unsolicited email ads to know. Real Internet commerce started in 1994, when two Arizona immigration lawyers, Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel, sent out advertisements to every single discussion group on the Internet, regardless of its topic. Canter and Siegel were met with threats of legal action and even death.
Email advertising is now here to stay.
Canter and Siegel went on to form a company specializing in mass Internet mailings. At first, we thought the story ended there. In fact, we were all set to call Canter and Siegel to get some juicy quotes on how profitable it can be to send millions of emails around the world. But the story wasn't nearly that simple. Turns out that the law firm's Phoenix phone was disconnected.