New Web Site allows consumers to slow flow of junk mail: ProQuo's online service is gateway for filtering out names on mailing lists.

So-called junk mail isn't just annoying. In the wrong hands, it also can be dangerous.

Unwanted credit card applications and check loans with personal identifications may get tossed in the trash, along with mortgage refinance offers with a loan number written across the top.

It's these seemingly harmless documents that La Julia-based ProQuo wants to stop on behalf of consumers.

ProQuo, a company founded in July 2006, launched a Web site service Oct. 23 that allows consumers to choose what type of mail should not be delivered to their home or business via the U.S. Postal Service.

With a few clicks of a mouse users may delete names from the assorted mailing lists of advertising, information management, marketing and sweepstakes companies such as ChoicePoint, Acxiom Corp., Money Mailer, ValPack, ShopWise and Publishers Clearing House.

"Marketing companies are making tens of billions of dollars by selling your profile," said Steven Gal, chief executive officer of ProQuo. "What happens is that you have no control over the data they send out and for the most part you have no idea who has your information."

There are a handful of companies that can help consumers put a stop to unsolicited mail, but they charge for their services. Gal is a board member of a similar company, Redwood City-based TrustedID Corp., which offers paid services aimed at preventing identity theft.

ProQuo's service is free. ProQuo has 24 employees and has raised $5 million from venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Gal said consumers can opt to allow mailers they might be interested in receiving, such as loan offers and coupons for the local dry cleaner, to arrive in their mailbox. It's these offers and coupons which consumers carefully select that Gal hopes will eventually lead to profits for his company.

Personal Data Protected

Gal said he set up ProQuo to be an agent of consumers, and he said he won't sell the personal data to anyone without explicit consent of the consumer. He said the company has plans to extend its services to e-mail as well.

"We won't sell the identity of someone who wants pizza coupons to the banks," Gal said. "Our company helps you manage your mail."

As part of its initial service, ProQuo blocks 16 different marketing companies, including some of the largest distributors of junk mail, through a Web site that explains major lists used by thousands of organizations that market to consumers, said Gal.

Once a consumer signs up on the ProQuo Web site, they can reduce their junk mail by 50 percent to 90 percent within three months, Gal said, adding that the service may also protect against potential identity theft.

In the future, ProQuo plans to expand to give users more control over other types of personal information, including financial and medical records.

Karen Foley, co-founder of Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego nonprofit organization, is in favor of expanding consumer controls.

"We endorse this idea," she said. "Anything that stops mail in which people can steal your identity is a great idea.

"Most of the junk mail you receive is potentially dangerous as far as identify theft goes," she added.

Jay Foley, director and co-founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center, said in a prepared statement that the marketing lists and databases used by many companies can be purchased or electronically breached by identity thieves.

"The ProQuo service is a meaningful, proactive step consumers can take toward protecting themselves against identity theft," Jay Foley said. "In fact, the members of Identity Theft Resource Center management team were the first people to sign up for the service."

Candice Reed is a freelance writer based in Vista.