Street Spam

I've been getting increasingly annoyed by various companies in my area that feel the need to advertise in the form of littering. They place their signs on telephone poles, frequently high enough to make removal difficult.

This type of litter has become known as "street spam" - taking its name from junk emails.

The legality of these signs varies city by city. Commonly the city will allow certain street spam assuming it follows various regulations. Street spammers frequently ignore the law and post whatever and wherever they feel like.

Street spam fighters are frequently referred to as sharks.

Different sharks have different takes on how to best address the problem.

Some advocate "slashing" the signs to make them illegible, or remove the contact info. The logic is that this will dissuade other street spammers from posting their signs.

The problem is that this leaves an unsightly mess behind. I'm also skeptical if it really helps get rid of spam on the street.

Personally my approach is to take down anything I don't like. Even if the sign is compliant with local law – I haven't found anything saying that removing the signs is illegal.

Unfortunately - spam software can't help with street spam.

CAUSS (Citizens Against Ugly Street Spam) is an organization of people trying to prevent spam from littering our streets.

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