Comments on: FOX9 on MPCA’s Phone Book Spam Policies

By: Daughter Number Three

Daughter Number Three — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:45:04 +0000

I saw the story in the PiPress and finally got off the dime and went to the opt-out website. For me, a St. Paul resident, there were three companies listed. Dex had an online opt-out form, while the other two required a phone call.

The extension listed on the opt-out site for one of the two companies was incorrect, but I navigated the phone trees, talked to two human beings, and supposedly should stop receiving phone books in 60 to 90 days. Which seems like a ridiculously long period of time… 30 days really should do it.

I’ll let you know if I get any books after February 1.

By: The Other Mike

The Other Mike — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:04:32 +0000

Hey Reuben, you say it would be tricky to craft opt-in legislation, but then you did it in 16 words…God bless us if any ‘tricky’ legislation could be summed up in 16 words, yet your summary works fine for me and that number of pages could even be ’1′ as far as I’m concerned (you got something to sell me and can’t sum it up in one page…you are already in trouble folks).

Of course no legislative action would be needed if YP had any moral conscience and community-minded feelings…they have completely hid their good sense behind their greed and are more than happy to hide behind denial and obfuscation (intentional and unintentional/ignorant), leaving citizens no choice but acts of civil disobedience and disgusted calls for legislation.

For anyone who once thought capitalism will act responsibly toward doing the ‘right’ thing…I give you the YP experience as the proof otherwise.

By: Reuben Collins

Reuben Collins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:06:45 +0000

It seems like it would be tricky to craft opt-in legislation. How do you say that companies x,y, and z aren't allowed to leave their products on doorsteps without also prohibiting neighborhood businesses or small newspapers from following the same rules? "All printed products containing more than q pages may not be distributed without property owners consent?"

By: Jason DeRusha

Jason DeRusha — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:56:15 +0000

I was sent the same release, visited the site, (an old site run by the Yellow Pages people) and decided that it wasn’t news. It’s also not helpful.

It simply asks you to put in your zip code, and then gives me four companies that I can contact on my own. One of the 4 had an e-mail to opt out, the other 3 wanted a phone call. Thanks for nothing.