Consumer Guide to Stopping Junk Mail

When first subscribing to magazines or ordering from catalogues, demand that the companies not rent, sell, or trade information about you. Be aware of what information you send companies-in most cases, you are the biggest source of information about yourself. For example:

Warranty or "product registration" cards are an easy way for companies to compile information about you and then sell the information. Many product-registration cards include surveys about your income, interests, and even medical history. Most warranties do not require you to fill out a registration card. Read your warranty. If it does not require you to fill out the card, don't do it. Instead, save your receipt as proof of purchase.

Toll free 800 and 888 number services can identify and capture your phone number when you call. The companies you call can use reverse directories to match your phone number with your street address. When calling toll free numbers, you cannot block the display of your number by pressing *67 before you dial. For other calls, however, you can use *67 telephone line blocking.

Discount cards scanned at the register can track your purchases and this information may be sold to marketers. If you have privacy concerns, ask for a written policy about how the information will be used. If you are unsatisfied with their privacy policy, don't use the discount card.

Remove your name from national mailing lists

If you want to reduce the overall volume of promotional mail that you receive, you may register with DMAchoice online, a mail suppression service that assists in managing your marketing mail. You may also sign up by mail by filling out this form, and following the payment and mailing instructions.

Contact the companies that send you junk mail

Contact the customer service departments of the companies that send you unwanted mail, and ask that they remove you from their mailing list. Mailing lists are often sold or rented to other organizations, so, you may have to call the companies first to ask where they got your information.

If you read the code on your mailing label, the company will be able to tell you the supplier of your name. Often, this is a list broker, a company that specializes in selling mailing lists, but it also may be an individual company that rented or sold their membership or marketing list. You will need to call that company and ask that your name be removed from its list.

Contact all organizations/companies that you currently deal with through the mail, and ask them not to rent or share your name. Your credit card company, charities and other non-profit groups to which you send money, all potentially may rent or sell their lists to unrelated companies.

Opt out of credit bureau mailing lists

Credit reporting agencies allow businesses to prescreen your credit report to determine if they want to send you a credit card offer. You have the right to not have your credit report prescreened by other companies. The national credit bureaus have set up a toll-free number so that you may opt out of pre-approved credit card offers with just one phone call. Call 1-888-5OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) for more information.

Guard your email address

Before you register at a website or before you buy online, check out the company's privacy policy. Make sure it has a policy against selling your personal information, including your e-mail address.

Remove personal information from web service directories. Your email address and other personal information may be accessible from the numerous "people-finding" search and directory services available on the Web. Choose the name-removal option (if available) to remove your name, e-mail address, and other information from the directories provided by these sites

Open a second Internet account for chat rooms, public posting, subscriptions, and buying online. Some Internet providers will allow you a second email address. Use one address for these public activities, and a second private address for e-mailing friends and business associates. This tactic will allow you to keep spam out of the e-mail account you use for communications.

Fight back against spammers

Register a complaint. Most Internet providers also offer email addresses to report junk email complaints. Forward the entire "spam" message to your provider. It may have a procedure for filtering, or "mail blocking" unsolicited email.

Don't reply to the spammer! Most "spammers" not only will ignore your request to be dropped from the mailing list, but they also will interpret your response as a positive sign that the message was actually read. Don't encourage spammers by buying their products or responding to their email.

Consider using a junk e-mail filtering program. Filtering programs can block email from a specific list of addresses, or they will only accept email from a list of users you specify. Some Internet providers have filtering programs already built in to their email service.

Be aware of people finders

Vast amounts of information about consumers is available through "people finders" or "look up services." These companies use computerized databases to collect and distribute personal identifying information about consumers. The information is used to locate, identify, and verify the identity of individuals.

This personal identifying information comes from public information sources, such as phone books or public records, as well as non-public sources, such as credit headers. A credit header is the personal identifying information on a consumer's credit report. It consists of a consumer's name, name variations, address, former addresses, telephone number, date of birth and social security number. The sale of credit header information is legal and unrestricted.

Many of these services provide you with the right to "opt out" or request that they not distribute some of the information these "look up services" make available for distribution. Check with each service or company directly for details.