How to Get Yourself Off of Those Lists

Feeling Bombarded By Junk and Spam? Here are the tools you can use.

Published: December , 2007

The New York Times had a great service piece on how to opt out of things you don’t want to receive. The information is so good, it bears repeating. While it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to totally abolish the spam and direct marketing in your life, the author, Damon Darlin, has some good ideas for getting closer to the ideal.

To Stop Phone Solicitations: Go to the Do Not Call Registry

To Stop Junk Mail: Visit the Direct Marketing Association

To Stop Spam Email: Do not respond to spam email, even when it asks you if you’d like to be removed from the list. (Answering confirms you’re a real person with a real email address.) Also, try not to use the @ symbol in a web page or blog response to signify your email address because many spammers look for anything with an @ sign, assuming that it’s an email name. Instead you can sign your emails RobinatYahoo.com, for example.

Opt Out of Credit Card Offers: You can opt out of the pre-screened and pre-approved offers from major credit bureaus with this opt out service.

Opt out of Double Click: Double Click is a service that collects data for online advertisers by tracking where you surf on the web. You can opt out of the tracking at DoubleClick’s site