Have you ever gone to your mailbox only to find it was overstuffed with numerous pieces of junk mail? How about those times when you turned on your computer to check your e-mail account only to find there is mail from people you have never heard of? This problem has really gotten out of control over the past year.

To help alleviate this problem, my assembly colleagues and I introduced legislation that would allow New Yorkers to limit the volume of nuisance mail they receive in the mailbox and over the Internet. Our bill would create a "Do Not Mail/E-mail" registry that allows New Yorkers to get their names removed from direct mail and "spam" (the Internet equivalent of junk mail) lists.

According to some estimates:

* The average New York household receives over 50 pounds, or around 900 pieces of unwanted junk mail each year;

* 500,000 tons of it is thrown away (44 percent unopened) at a disposal cost of $30 million annually;

* Unwanted spam, which absorbs bandwidth and overwhelms computer systems, costs American businesses billions of dollars each year through lost productivity; and

* Some avid Internet users report 100 spams per day.

These phony e-mails, also known as spam, are often designed to dupe recipients and are especially confusing to seniors who may be tempted to provide personal information and purchase potentially bogus products.

The proposed "Do Not Mail/E-mail" registry is patterned after New York's successful "Do Not Call" telemarketing registry, which has 1.9 million households participating in the program. It would allow individuals to register with the Consumer Protection Board (CPB) to get their names off of direct mail and spam lists.

Individuals would register via a toll-free number or an Internet site. Direct mail marketers and other companies would have up to 30 days to wipe the personal information of registered New Yorkers off of their mailing lists or face civil penalties of up to $2,000.

By reducing the number of mailings, the "Do Not Mail/E-mail" registry would help to cut down on solid waste in New York's landfills, saving both space and money. It would also save direct mail marketers the cost of sending unwanted mail in both standard and electronic forms.

And it's a commonsense way to end the nonsense of junk mail - wherever it shows up.