In the future, there will not be many fingers walking over the Yellow Pages in San Francisco if the Board of Supervisors has its way, notes Grumpy Editor.
A proposed ban on unsolicited distribution of Yellow Pages is the latest in a series of “green” measures in the City by the Bay.
A ban would mark San Francisco as the first city in the nation to fully thwart Yellow Page distribution.
Behind the move is David Chiu, Board of Supervisors president, who feels Yellow Pages are becoming obsolete in the Internet age and often end up unopened or in the trash, reports Rachel Gordon in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Chiu’s proposed law would require telephone companies plus other distributors and publishers to obtain advance permission before delivering an estimated 1.5 million Yellow Pages annually in San Francisco.
"If we're serious about the environment, it's time we recognize that phone books are a 20th century tool that doesn't meet the business or environmental needs of the 21st century," Chiu tells the Chronicle.
The proposed law "would be an infringement of our constitutional rights, the right to distribute speech" and would unfairly target one industry, declares Amy Healy, vice president of public policy and sustainability at the Yellow Pages Association, founded in 1975.
The San Francisco proposal follows a Seattle ordinance (now the basis of a law suit) that prohibits Yellow Pages distribution to those on a city-enforced opt-out list. In efforts to recover recycling costs, the ordinance also places a fee on phone books distributed in the city.
