I've just launched an improved version of Junk Buster. If you don't know Junk Buster yet, it's an online widget that allows you to contact the three main opt-out schemes for junk mail as well as opt-outs for the main paper directories delivered door-to-door in the UK.

Junk Buster V2 is bigger and prettier, but it's not just the design of the widget that has changed. The most significant changes are that the new Junk Buster includes information about the opt-out services that can be contacted, answers to some of the most frequently asked questions and a 'tell-a-friend' link.

The information about the opt-out services has been added to meet alleged concerns from the Direct Marketing Association. The representative of junk mailers in the UK and the organisation behind the Mailing Preference Service and Your Choice Dummy Scheme seems to think people wanting to reduce unsolicited junk mail are out of their mind. Although Stop Junk Mail already provides lots of information about opting out on both the Stop Junk Mail and Junk Buster website it's now also available within the widget itself, complete with links to the propaganda the Direct Marketing Association spreads.

A change I'm less enthusiastic about is that you now have to enter your e-mail address when contacting the opt-out services. I much liked the fact that you could use Junk Buster without having to use an e-mail address, but this feature had to go. The Direct Marketing Association has showed it's quite willing to ignore people asking for an opt-out form - as and when this happens I need to be able to contact people I think have been ignored.