1. Register your name with the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service. After you do this, the DMA will add you to its "Do Not Mail" database.

2. If you do business with a company via mail services, it will put you on its contact list. So the first time you make a transaction (such as placing an order) with that company, ask to be put on its "in-house suppress" or "do not promote" lists. Tell the company not to "rent" or share your name with other companies.

3. To stop junk mail from credit card, mortgage, and insurance companies, try going to OptOutPreScreen.com which allows you to remove your name from lists generated by the four major credit bureaus-- Equifax, Innovis, TransUnion, and Experian.

4.Get the Stop the Junk Mail Kit from the Consumer Research Institute. This kit comes with pre-addressed postcards for you to send to companies that send you those annoying catalogs, wasteful postcards, and unnecessary brochures.

5.Several subscription services will reduce your junk mail for you. You can pay a fee to join Stop the Junk Mail which offers an online service to reduce junk mail. Also, check out GreenDimes - for a dime a day, this service will reduce your junk mail and plant a tree in your name every month.

6.Try calling the phone number listed under the publisher details on the junk mail. Often if you call or email, the company will remove you from the mailing list for a publication.

Whether or not your home phone number is registered on the national Do-Not-Call list, the FCC requires a person or entity placing voice telephone solicitations to your home to maintain a record of your direct request to that caller not to receive future telephone solicitations from that person or entity. A record of your do-not-call request must be maintained for five years. This request should also stop calls from affiliated entities if you would reasonably expect them to be included, given the identification of the caller and the product being advertised. Unless your home phone number or number(s) is registered on the national Do-Not-Call list, however, you must make a separate do-not-call request to each telemarketer from whom you do not wish to receive callsWhen you receive telephone solicitation calls, clearly state that you want to be added to the caller's do-not-call list. You may want to keep a list of those persons or businesses that you have asked not to call you. Tax-exempt non-profit organizations are not required to keep do-not-call lists.

Do you receive phone calls from telemarketers? Or calls from a fax machine? Or odd calls in which no one answers on the other end? Or perhaps a recorded voice tells you to hold on the line?

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These are typically calls from telemarketers autodialers and fax programs. Autodialers can produce, store, and dial telephone numbers using a random or sequential number generator. Often, they dial every number in a sequence, hoping that some are valid and a person will answer so they can try to sell something to them. These are telephone solicitations; a telephone call that acts as an uninvited advertisement. The use of autodialers, including predictive dialers, often results in abandoned calls - hang-ups or "dead air."
Autofax programs work the same way, hoping to connect with a fax machine and send through a scam about stock market tips. Once they do connect, they add the fax number to their list of valid fax machines for future pitches. You've probably seen the stack of sleazy fax advertisements by your company fax machine.The next little device may help you with these calls.

Whatever type of unwanted call you're receiving, you can take some basic precautions to reduce the interuption to your life and maintain control of the situation:

* Stay calm. Simply say 'No, thank you' and hang up the phone. If the unwanted call is from a telemarketing company, request that they take your name and number off their calling list and don't call you again. By law in the U.S. companies must comply with your request.

* Register with the DO NOT CALL LIST LINK below to reduce the overall volume of unwanted calls you're receiving - independent research shows that this is likely to reduce the number of unwelcome calls you receive by half.

* Never ever reveal personal information, particularly credit card information, unless the caller is someone you know and trust. If you're interested, but unsure, request information in writing or ask questions that will confirm the caller's identity.

* Never ever let yourself to be rushed into a decision on the phone. Take your time and request written confirmation of an offer or request for money before you make a commitment. If something sounds too good to be true then it's probably a scam.

Threatning calls are calls whose intent is to cause distress. They include a threat to you, your family or your property, calls which contain abusive or sexually explicit language, silent calls intended to cause you anxiety or calls at inappropriate times. Prank calls can also cause considerable distress, particularly if they are persistent.

In some cases making a threatning call is a criminal offence.

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If you receive a call that makes a direct threat, you should contact the Police immediately, otherwise it is a good idea to monitor the situation yourself before you decide what to do.

If you receive a silent call you may be concerned that it is a threat, but very often this is not the case. Most silent calls are the result of predictive dialling activity by telemarketing companies, particularly if they arrive during the day or early evening.

General advice for handling malicious calls:-

* Take your time before you answer the phone.

* Speak calmly and warn off the caller by saying "I'm making a complaint to the Police. Don't call me again.", or "I've notified the Police and they're tracing this call. Don't call again.". You can also try saying "Operator, this is the call." or "call trace" followed by the date and time before you hang up. The mention of a trace on the line, even if it is untrue, will worry a threatning caller. If you feel physically threatened you can shout something like "I've got it" as if addressing someone in the next room before you address the caller directly.

* Place the handset next to the phone and walk away for 2 or 3 minutes to deprive the caller of the satisfaction of a response.

* If the phone rings again don't speak when you answer it , a genuine caller will speak first if you don't say anything. If the caller rings back repeatedly unplug your phone and extensions or switch off the ringer so that calls will go through to your answering machine if you have one.

For every malicious call you receive you should make as detailed a note as possible including information about:

* Call time and date
* The caller's number (if available)
* The nature of the call
* Any background noises
* The caller's gender and approximate age
* The caller's accent and any speech problems
* The specific wording used by the caller
* The duration of the call

This information can help identify and prosecute the nuisance caller.

The amount of paper junk mail sent each year in the USA is staggering -- some 4 million tons, nearly half of which is never opened. Even if you recycle there are still enormous environmental costs in terms of ink, energy to produce deliver and recycle the paper, recycling inefficiencies and loss of productive forest to create the high quality glossy paper much junk mail uses. The industry tries to "greenwash" themselves, but you probably won't be fooled. Badly targetted junk mail helps nobody, but the industry likes to keep pumping it out.

There is a lot you can do to reduce the cost to the environment and your own time:

First class mail: Cross out the address and bar code, circle the first class postage and write "refused: return to sender". Drop in any mail box, it will be returned to the sender.
Bulk mail: The post office throws away bulk mail it can't deliver, so returning it does no good. Bulk mail is the hardest to deal with because the USPS actively provides addresses, support and encouragement to mailers. However, if "address correction requested" is written on the label: circle "address correction requested" and treat like first class mail.
Sexually Oriented Advertising (SOA):The only help you'll get from the Post Office in controlling junk mail is for explicit stuff. Fill out USPS forms 1500 if you wish this type of mail to stop. You define what you find to be explicit -- if that's an automobile parts catalog the post office won't disagree with you.
Credit offers: The major credit agencies all sell aggregate credit information any bidder. Direct mail and credit companies generate mail based on demographics including zip code, income band and credit payment patterns. Stopping this is easy, you just need your address, former address within two years, and social security number. One call does it all for agencies Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Innovis. Dial 1-888-5 OPT OUT (or 1-888-567-8688) 24 hours a day.
Catalogs:
Call the company's 800 number and have the label handy.
Write your instructions on the mailing label and fax it to the company. Mark "ATTN: customer service".
Tear off the label, write your instructions on it, and enclose in the postage-paid ordering envelope. Mark envelope "ATTN: customer service". This method is the least effective.
AOL (America On-Line): You could pave the nation with the free discs these people send out, call 1-800-605-4297 (24 hours a day) to get off the list. Tell them your first name is "current", last name "resident".
Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes: You can get the Clearinghouse to stop clogging your mailbox by contacting customer service at 1-800-645-9242 (8:30 am to 8:30 EST), sending a fax to 1-800-453-0272, mailing to 101 Channel Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050, or you can send email to pch@ant.net. PCH will remove any number of names from a specific address, but you have to list each name exactly and insist nicely.
American Family Sweepstakes: Ed McMahon and Dick Clark will stop telling you "You have definitely won 11 million dollars (maybe) " if you call them at 1-800-237-2400. AFP is a division of Time-Warner.
Local business & supermarket fliers: All mailings must be identified, by postal regulations. Each lose-leaf bundle of fliers, by postal regulations, must be delivered at the same time as an address card. Locate this address card; the cards usually have an advertisement and a photograph of a missing child. You may need to call directory assistance to get the phone number of the sender. Specific senders are:
ADVO (Mail comes with pictures of missing children). Call 1-860-285-6100 to get off the list. You may have to send a postcard to "ADVO Consumer Assistance, POB 249, Windsor CT 06095-4176".
Val-Pak Coupons: click the link and copy your mailing label.
Carol Wright Call 1-800-67-TARGET to get off the list.
Most senders are professional companies which will handle your request politely. "ADVO Mailbox Values" and "Harte Hanks Potpourri" are the most common of these mailers. Your local supermarket's monthly coupon books may be handled by these companies, so be sure to specify if you want to continue to receive those. Your letter carrier is accustomed to giving each house a bundle, so you may also need to inform him or her of your action separately. The post office is prohibited by law from delivering unaddressed mail, so you should have little trouble convincing the carrier.

Too much junk to deal with individually: Start by sending a postcard or letter to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 15012-0643 Include your complete name, address, zip code and a request to "activate the preference service". For up to five years, this will stop mail from all member organizations that you have not specifically ordered products from.
The Direct Marketing Association estimates that listing with their mail preference service will stop 75% of all national mailings. They process 50,000 requests a month and requests are kept active for five years. If you fill out the post office change of address form, the DMA will track the new address (you'll get a few months of mailings to the new address before they catch up to you). It can take up to six months for your request to be fully processed. You can also opt-out online, but they charge $5. The best way is to fill out their online form, then mail them a printout.

To stop mail addressed to former residents, or a former spouse
If you rent you are probably familiar with receiving mail for a dozen or more former residents of your dwelling. Since you probably don't want any of the stuff, you can use two powerful techniques that might not be appropriate for yourself:

Bulk mail for "current resident or ...": Start with sending a postcard or letter to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 15012-0643 Write "please activate the mail preference service", and include the name, address, and zip code. You must send individual postcards -- the DMA wants to make this all as inconvienent as possible. The DMA will ignore requests that don't appear to be from a single individual.
First class and some bulk mail: If the former residents neglected to fill out a Post Office change of address card, or it expired, you can fill one out for them. You must fill out one card for each unique last name. Write "Moved, Left No Forwarding Address" as the new address. Sign your own name and write "Form filled in by current resident of the house, [Your Name], agent for the above". You must write "agent for the above". Hand this form directly to your carrier, if possible, as your carrier must approve the form and see that it gets entered into the post service National Change of Address (NCOA) database. This is very effective.

It is very hard to effectively combat junk electronic mail. It costs nothing to send out a few million email messages, so there is no disincentive for people to do so. Most SPAM mailers forge the headers, email return address and sending machine name because they are sick of reading the thousands of inevitable complaints. The offers to remove your name from a list are generally untrue, and often result in your name getting added to yet another list. Many internet providers have policies against SPAM, and will take action. Unfortunately some providers either don't care or are SPAM-friendly. There are ways you can reduce exposure and complain:

*Never never never reply to a SPAM email.
*Complaints: SPAMers like to forge email. They forge email, and send it using innocent computers. *The war of forgery has reached a level where the average person can't sort out who or where mail actually came from. If you want to complain, use the services of a system like SpamCop to process the mail.
*Stamp out Get Rich Quick schemes: If you suspect fraud, send a copy of the mail to the National Fraud Information Center. If it relates to selling stocks, send to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
*Big companies, like eBay, react aggressively to phishing spam. Just forward it to "abuse@" the company name.
*Secure your web page: If you include a "mailto" link, as below, expect to get junk mail. Remove the "mailto" and force people to manually enter the email address. State your email address in a way readable only to humans (e.g.. "recycle" at machine "obviously.com").
*Secure your computer: If your PC is running a mail server (such as Sendmail or Exchange) it may be used by spammers. Spammers often hijack innocent machines. Check yourself at ORDB.
*Use care with newsgroup postings: Post to a newgroup these days and you can be sure of getting both target SPAM (sports messages for posting in a sports group) and untargeted email. You can use an obviously false return address on postings: most news programs let you set this to whatever you want. Include your real email address (coded as above) in body of the message.
*Complain to your Senator or Representative: Laws will be needed to regulate the eventual legitimate email advertising industry.