Unbelievable. These guys just don’t want to give up. I just got an email from Dex which says that the Yellow Pages Association, Dex, and, Supermedia (who I guess make up the Holy Trinity of yellow pages in Seattle) have asked the courts to grant a preliminary injunction (.pdf) against Seattle’s brand new phone book ordinance which bans publishers from distributing yellow pages to anyone on a city-regulated opt-out list.
This after the Seattle City Council decided to scratch a $148 recycling fee for the yellow pages publishers for every ton of unwanted books junk they leave outside buildings. The city plans to roll out its opt-out website in April. Phone book distributors will be fined $125 for every yellow pages directory delivered to people who have opted-out.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office said that it had “anticipated the preliminary injunction” and was preparing a response. The request for injunction filed with the U.S. District Court in Seattle today says:
Preliminary relief is justified not only because of Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on the merits and the presence of irreparable harm, but also because the equities and public interest weigh in favor of such relief.
Preliminary relief? Irreparable harm? Public interest? What about the thousands of Seattle residents who will be permanently relieved thanks to the ordinance?
YPA, Dex, and SuperMedia had already filed a lawsuit back in November asking the court to overturn the ordinance, arguing that it violates their First Amendment rights. This new request to block the ordinance just shows how desperate they are getting. What’s next? An anti-government/anti-phone book ordinance protest in Pioneer Square?
Instead of a city-controlled opt-out list, the YPA wants everyone to use its own website, which it says allows everyone in the country to opt-out of receiving yellow-pages directories. But Council Member Mike O’Brien, who sponsored the phone book ordinance, says that it’s a good way to keep close tabs on whether the industry is actually listening to the public’s opt-out requests. Both O’Brien and the City Attorney’s Office have said that the ordinance is constitutionally sound.
I manage a 50 unit apartment building in downtown Seattle. The phone book people deposit their voluminous books to every door, every year, and every time the recycling bin overflows. NOBODY WANTS THEIR CRAP. PLEASE STOP.
i don’t even bother to recycle them anymore
they make such a good banging noise as they fall 6 stories down the trash chute in my seattle condo building
i think i’ve thrown 3 of them away this year
and yes, i signed up for every single link on the “king country junk mail prevention” website. and i still get tons of shit in the mail, all of which goes straight into the trash can.
Those jerks don’t even drop it off at my front door. They leave it out at the end of my driveway for me to run over. I want them fined for littering.
Slowly dying industry is dying. Slowly.
I’ve been to the YPA opt out site, and it asks for more personal information than I’m willing to give the bastards. Would much prefer that the city hang on to my info and only give the YPA a list of addresses not to deliver to. Like I’ve said before, if they want to exercise their first amendment rights, then distribute their products through books stores, news stands, and on line like everyone else.
Okay if they don’t want an orderly opt out how about everybody puts a sign in front of their house or apartment that says “No Dumping, Phonebooks not welcome and will be prosecuted as illegal dumping”. By state law half of the fine goes to the private property owner. We could also seek a change in the law to address serial violators and hold the publisher responsible for their employee subcontractors.
See article:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/376438_du…
Why don’t we all just put the unwanted books on the front steps of DEX’s office building? Block there door with a ton of unwanted books and we may get their attention…