Spam - the scourge of email - is now 30 years old.

WIth the 30th anniversary of the first spam message, it seems that there's a never-ending supply of stories that show the ineffectiveness and shortcomings of the public email system.

BBC: Spam - the scourge of every e-mail inbox - celebrates its 30th anniversary this weekend.

The first recognisable e-mail marketing message was sent on 3 May, 1978 to 400 people on behalf of DEC - a now-defunct computer-maker.

The message was sent via Arpanet - the internet's forerunner - and won its sender much criticism from recipients.

Thirty years on, spam has grown into an underground industry that sends out billions of messages every day.

 Of course these stories about email will never end since the shortcomings of SMTP can't be overcome inside of the current open and completely anonymous system. So spam and spam filtering of email messages will continue to be an ongoing arms race between security companies who try to isolate and filter email messages (after they're already in your inbox) and the spammers, who are increasingly sophisticated and who are now employing sophisticated techniques that can even target email recipients on an individual level.

The inadequacies of email won't, and indeed can't be solved inside the current system of SMTP. A new paradigm is needed to jump the curve and address the real needs of both businesses and individuals. A system where spam and malware is stopped on the sending side rather that trying to filter the spam after it's already in the inbox.

Fortunately, that system's now here, and it's free for individuals.