Is using a pen name in violation of the spam act?

by James F

Posted: 12 years ago 13 replies

OFF TOPIC

I bought some articles a while back and one of them was about using
a pen name . I was reading about the spam act and it talks about
Header misrepresentation (Who You Are)
Does anybody know anything about this?

seasoned 12 years ago

You are supposed to identify yourself in a MEANINGFUL way. Did you know, for example, that it is ILLEGAL to start a business named something like "FANCY BOOKS" in LA county? And many other places, for that matter. You could get fined and who knows what! Unless your name is in the name of the company, it is ILLEGAL!!!!!! *****UNLESS***** you get a DBA or it is a corporation, LLC, etc... name. You see, under the law, corporations ARE people, and the others are registered in a similar way. A DBA gives you that registration, even if it gives no other benefit.

So I would say that you CAN'T use a pen name, unless it is really well known.

Steve
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HeySal 12 years ago

I would imagine if you aren't sending unwelcome mail to people, they aren't going to care what you call yourself. I never just assume anyone is using their real name on the net - but if they are sending me promotional mail, no matter what they call themselves, if I'm not opted in, they are risking being reported.

As far as legal, I'm thinking Steve might be correct about making sure that the name is a legally adopted name.
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Halcyon 12 years ago

Header misrepresentation and pen names are two separate beasts. Spammers employ a variety of cloaks to mask the origin of their emails and who sent them. That's header misrepresentation and that's different than using a pen name in your business dealings.

Using a pen name is not illegal, using a pen name to scam people is. Then again scamming people is illegal anyway and the pen name would be a secondary charge. Sending your emails under a pen name is not misrepresentation if that's how your readers know you.

Look at it this way.
If your readers know you as George Orwell then sending something with the name Eric Blair will be confusing.

If they know you as Lemony Snicket then ending something with the name Daniel Handler won't be opened.

What's important is intent. An author using a pen name is common and legal. A scammer trying to cloak who he is and where the emails are coming from is not.
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- James F 12 years ago
  
  For instance Eben Pagan is David De Angelo
  
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- Alexa Smith Banned 12 years ago
  
  I'm not a lawyer, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that using a pen-name in email communications isn't in itself a violation of the Can-Spam Act, because if it were, you wouldn't have all those companies like Aweber, GetResponse and other long-established, legally very compliant companies permitting and facilitating it, would you?
  
  Originally Posted by Halcyon
  
  If your readers know you as George Orwell then sending something with the name Eric Blair will be confusing.
  
  Particularly good example, there, of a well-known and successful blogger: Orwell Diaries 1938-1942 | George Orwell's domestic and political diary entries, posted 70 years to the day after they were written
  
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seasoned 12 years ago

Just to make it clear, even I said it was ok if it was well known. But if you sent out spam, and it looked evasive, I am sure that WOULD be a complaint. MOST don't seem to care about this anyway. It was lip service. But some states are VERY serious about it. And heysal is right, you are likely to run into this only if you spam.

Steve
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Joseph Robinson Banned 12 years ago

If it's illegal, then I'm f***ed.
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- Janet Sawyer 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Joe Robinson
  
  If it's illegal, then I'm f***ed.
  
  So then, come on Joe, tell us who you really are
  
  Please for goodness sake, don't say you are Tom Hanks, and your best friend is called "Wilson".
  
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James F 12 years ago

If it's illegal, then I'm f***ed.
So are a lot of other people
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- Joseph Robinson Banned 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by James F
  
  If it's illegal, then I'm f***ed.
  So are a lot of other people
  
  I probably should have added the /sarcasm bit to the end of that post, huh?
  
  Thanks
  
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James F 12 years ago

If you put a name disclosure in the legal stuff at the bottom
of the email would that cover it?
Then there would not be any appearance of deception.
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SQUARE NC Banned 12 years ago

Well, I hope not.. for obvious reasons
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burtonridr2 12 years ago

I miss the wildwest internet.... Not because of the lawlessness, just that it was a realm of true freedom of expression and speech without every detail being logged to your name to potentially be scrutinized.
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