The first shot in the war against unwanted phone books was fired in Seattle. The city council passed a law in November that forced phone-book publishers like Dex One to apply for a permit and pay 14 cents per copy in order dump yellow pages on people’s doorsteps.Now, after court battles have been fought and won by the city of Seattle, San Francisco has decided that this brand of resident empowerment is right up its alley. So it’s replicating the law–but with more teeth. As Good Cities reports, the city’s board of supervisors (there is no city council in San Francisco) preliminarily passed an ordinance that severely cracks down on phone-book deliveries.Whereas Seattle requires residents who don’t want phone books to “opt out” by going to a website and signing up, San Francisco’s law would require residents to “opt in.”If the law passes, any delivery of a phone book in SF would have to be specifically requested and be a “personal delivery . . . to a human being.”The phone-book law is still one vote away from passing, though it’s expected to do so easily when the vote is scheduled later this week.In the meantime, phone-book companies like Dex One and the industry lobbying group the Local Search Association will no doubt be looking at any remaining legal options available to keep cities like San Francisco and Seattle from passing or enforcing such laws. Of course, the publishers could just make products that people actually used. But they gotta pay these damn lawyers to do something. Follow The Daily Weekly on Facebook and Twitter.