Kill Spam – From Your Real Mailbox

Wouldn’t it be nice if your physical mailbox filtered out the junk like Gmail? ProQuo, a junk-mail management system, promises to do just that, by allowing you to pick and choose the mail you want to receive.The free service helps you remove your name and personal information from thousands of marketing lists, data brokers and other organizations that send you unsolicited mail (a $10 billion-plus industry). This will lead to less frustration, help preserve the world’s forests and could even reduce the risk that you will be a victim of identity theft.

While you can remove yourself from most lists electronically, some require you to print, sign and mail an opt-out form. Annoying, but probably worth it.

Since so many information lists are being collected, bought, and sold on a daily basis, if you are going to use ProQuo, it’s vital to visit on a regular basis, as lists are always changing.

According to the Web site, you should begin seeing a reduction in your junk mail in less than four weeks, with the full impact hitting in about three months.

With a recent influx of $5 million in funding, it’s clear that people are backing the anti-junk mail movement. As the Internet becomes more integrated with our “real” lives, it’s nice to see applications that cross that virtual divide.

ProQuo seems worth a shot. And your neighborhood mailman will thank you.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.