Even though the Seattle city council announced it would be creating an opt-out registry for residents who don’t want the Yellow Pages delivered anymore last October, the registry didn’t go live until May. But in the short period of time since that launch, the response has been overwhelming.

According to SeattlePI.com, more than 35,000 homes and businesses have opted out of phone book delivery. That adds up to 225,000 copies of the doorstop/relic.

This news comes on the heels of a court decision against one phone book publisher, who had filed suit against the city for creating the opt-out directory after it set up its own nationwide opt-out website.

The phone book folks had argued that the city was violating their First Amendment right by “directing publishers what to publish and to whom they may communicate, and from assessing fees for the privilege of publishing.”

The judge in the case called the publisher’s comparison of the yellow pages to a newspaper, “stretch too far.”

In recent months, the city of San Francisco has moved toward a ban on the big books and the state of California has stopped automatic delivery of the phone book.

And, as mentioned above, there is yellowpagesoptout.com, which is supposed to allow you to cancel delivery in any location in the country.

Phone book company loses court fight against Seattle [SeattlePI.com]

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