Check out my post, “But seriously, folks,” and tell us what you think.

“Somehow, they think a sale offer coming through the mail — as opposed to a newspaper, a magazine, TV, radio or the Internet — is a bad thing. Ads pay for the Internet, as well as broadcast TV and radio programs,” he said during a speech at the National Press Club. “So, too, ad mail helps pay for universal mail service in America.”

Do-not-mail legislation has proponents, including the nonprofit ForestEthics, which runs the Web site DoNotMail.org. The portal urges consumers to sign a petition to stop “junk mail,” citing environmental concerns. Earlier this year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a non-binding resolution calling on California and the US Congress to create a Do Not Mail registry. It was the first time lawmakers in the US voted on allowing consumers to block unsolicited mail.

Call me crazy, but that ’somehow‘ strikes me as fairly insincere, considering that both the annoyance of the public at large and the growing concerns about junk mail’s environmental impacts are incredibly well-documented. This kind of cavalier ignorance is rhetorically too cute by half, and sadly, shows little in the way of real Postal Service leadership on an important issue.

As for the rest of that quote, Potter seems to be purposefully conflating all advertising together so as to create a straw man of people who hate all advertising and dislike the simple fact that advertising helps pay for things, or something. Which is ridiculous—this isn’t the Do Not Sell Stuff Campaign. We’re just talking about junk mail, and the American public has very specific and well-cited reasons for disliking it. There’s no ’somehow’ about it.

To be sure, some people have found the DMA’s opt-out tool helpful, and some of the credit for that goes to all the Americans who have expressed their frustration with junk mail and put pressure on the DMA to pick up their game a bit. But the DMA’s half-measures still appear to fall short. For example, check out this investigative post from Jonathan Kamens, “DMA’s Mail Preference Service: Once a fraud, always a fraud.” The widely-popular Consumerist.com even excerpted Jonathan’s findings in Chris Walters’ post entitled “Direct Marketing Opt Out Website is a Joke.”

And here’s blogger Alan Durning on his year-long experiment to suss out how effective the DMA’s service really was in cutting down his junk mail. (In short: not enough).

The DMA exists to protect the interests of the direct marketing industry, including the selling of personal information lists, and the lobbying of government officials and politicians who show any inkling of support for enforceable opt-out tools. It has often resorted to transparent propaganda when faced with junk mail’s environmental impacts. (Note that the website of Mail Moves America,theDMA’s chief D.C. lobbying group, feeds us this all-time wtf: “Direct Mail is not trees, it is printed communication.”)

What we need, of course, is a real Do Not Mail Registry– enforceable, free, comprehensive, and not just another way for junk mailers to collect information, while continuing to waste as much paper as possible.

UPDATE 10.12.09 — The original version of this post did not in fact point out that Consumerist.com’s post included many large excerpts from Jonathan Kamens’ original blog post.

Dish Network Dealers Settle With FTC Over ‘Do Not Call’ Charges

Two authorized dealers of the satellite television provider Dish Network, formerly known as EchoStar, have agreed to settle charges that they violated the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule by calling consumers whose numbers are on the Do Not Call Registry.

However, when Americans sign up with one of the various junk mail opt-out systems floating around, and junk mailers send them junk mail anyway, nobody necessarily does anything.

Which I would say is a slight flaw in this whole “just let the junk mail industry run the junk mail opt-out system” logic.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi receives his award

It’s so rare that we take time out of our busy schedules to celebrate our victories and honor our leaders. That’s why it was such an honor to present San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi with our first annual In the Company of Giants Award for his leadership in sponsoring the nation’s first resolution calling for a state and national Do Not Mail Registry. Accepting the award, Ross gave a characteristically rousing speech about junk mail’s unacceptable impacts on our fragile environment, and his commitment to lead San Francisco, the state of California, and the nation towards a more common sense relationship with the planet.

The event was hosted by a great friend to forests everywhere, Annabelle Gurwitch–author, Planet Green TV personality, and woman of wit and boundless energy.

And once again, bringing the evening together, ForestEthics Executive Director Todd Paglia, spoke of the broader ForestEthics vision: a world where individuals, businesses, and industry work together to protect the planet.

I had a great time catching up with friends and allies, meeting people who are passionate about forests and climate, and sipping too much moderate amounts of delicious wine. We are now recharged and refreshed–ready to take Do Not Mail’s resolution strategy to the next level.

Thanks to everyone who worked to make the event–and the campaign–a success!

Download the .pdf of the full report card here >>

We also have a pocket guide available for you to use and to share with your friends family and colleagues. Download the .pdf of the pocket guide version of report card here >>

Drawing from a company survey and our own research, the report card rates the office companies on six forest-related environmental measures, including the extent to which they avoid selling paper from Endangered Forests and other controversial sources, and to which they instead promote paper from certified well-managed forests and recycled
fiber. You can see the full press release here >>

Some of the following companies get A’s, some companies fail, and some fall in between: Amazon.com, FedEx Office, Office Depot, OfficeMax, PaperlinX, Staples, Target, Unisource, United Stationers, WalMart, and Xpedx. Get the full story on the performance of these companies here.

You can also view and/or print the report card below. Use the zoom or toggle full screen tool for easier viewing.

Today, in the shadow of Seattle’s Space Needle, Maggie Hussey became the 100,000th person to sign the petition calling for a national Do Not Mail Registry. Maggie signed after a member of Forest Ethics’ outreach team delivered their patented smooth junk mail info-rap. It’s irresistible.

It’s fitting that this milestone signature happened in Seattle, recently named the greenest large city in the country and home to our next push for a Do Not Mail Resolution! San Francisco was first in March, and now it’s Seattle’s turn, with the city hopefully giving way to a Do Not Mail registry for Washington state and beyond!

I was going to propose a toast, but let’s save it for later. For now, we’ll just say that it’s great to be at six figures, and it’s great to be in Seattle. Onward and upward….

So I was amused to check it today (left) and see that the current result is almost exactly the same as the much more authoritative 2007 Zogby poll, which showed that 89% of Americans support Do Not Mail.

The junk mail industry can’t actually convince Americans not to support Do Not Mail, but I’m somewhat surprised that they haven’t tried to take advantage of easily-manipulated online polls like this.

The article’s author, Jack Dunning, is a former junk mail consultant turned dedicated watchdog of an industry that in his opinion runs roughshod over our privacy and the environment. Junk mailers have a tough time getting their misinformation past him.

He’s been documenting the absurdity on his blog, the Dunning Report, for quite awhile but at the moment he also has a steady gig at Examiner.com.

Turns out Chris’ testimony was just the tip of the iceberg as far as his overall expertise in matters of privacy law and consumer rights. Denialism, the blog to which he and his brother Mark contribute, is chock full of expert knowledge delivered in an easy, conversational manner. And it’s all about you the consumer and you the citizen.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the various shades of shadiness in our mail, on the phone, and online, but when I see vigilant minds like this winning with facts, reason, and a healthy sarcasm, I gotta say– I feel like I can take it on, too.

These guys are like the Batman and Spider-man of consumer advocacy bloggery!

But even Batman will tell Commissioner Gordon that Gotham needs something a little more comprehensive and enforceable than one dude with a cape running around the city trying to take on every bad guy.

There, you made me say it: Batman supports Do Not Mail. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, but there it is.

So check out: Denialism. We’re adding it to our blogroll today.