Advantages of Pseudonymity

March 8, 2005 4:27 PM

What are the legal and artistic advantages of having a pseudonym?

As with everyone, I have a few artistic related ideas for various media and literature. I would love to publish under a pseudonym. Are you protected from someone finding out your name? Is a pseudonym public knowledge if someone is resourceful enough to go about finding that information?

posted by jasonspaceman to law & government (4 comments total)

FindLaw on pseudonyms:

You may use a pseudonym in completeing the claimant space, but you should also be aware that if a copyright is held under a fictitious name, business dealings involving that property may raise questions of ownership of the copyright property. You should consult an attorney for legal advice on these matters.

FindLaw had nothing on whether someone can find a pseudonym. I've only taken an Intellectual Property class and a Business Law Intro class, but I haven't heard of anything like pseudonym protection. Note that journalists might lose some of their anonymous-source confidentiality privileges if current judicial trends continue.
posted by NickDouglas at 5:55 PM on March 8, 2005

Sorry, I should have caught this piece from the EFF in my first comment:

the use of a pseudonym should not be allowed to act as a means of escaping responsibility.

This indicates that if a plaintiff sues your pseudonym, they'll likely be allowed to find your real name, possibly by subpoenaing a web site where you registered a pseudonym, or by subpoenaing your ISP.

I'm a bit confused by this German law file, but it includes this:

The certifier may collect personal data only directly from the affected person and only insofar as necessary for the purposes of a certificate. Collecting data from a third party is only permissible if the person affected gives his consent. Data may only be used for purposes other than those described in sentence 1 if this law or another legal provision so permits or the person affected has given his consent.

In the case of a signature key owner using a pseudonym, the certifier shall transmit data concerning his identity upon request of the proper authorities, insofar as this is necessary to prosecute crimes or misdemeanors, to protect against dangers for the public safety or public order, or to fulfill the legal duties of the constitutional protection authorities of the federal government and the federal states, the federal security service, the military security service or the criminal customs authorities. Such information shall be documented.

You might need a lawyer to answer your question.
posted by NickDouglas at 6:08 PM on March 8, 2005

Yeah....it all seems a bit vague and probably local laws need checking. (I only looked at written publications - not web)
One thing apparently that happens pretty well universally is you lose time on copyright protection. For a pseudonym it is 50 years after the date of publication rather than your lifetime plus 50 years (I guess that would matter most to your estate).
There's an interesting comment here that seems to make logical sense - depends on the amount of trust you have with your agent and your publisher.

And I assume you'd need legal advice anyway if there's any legal suit arising from the publication. I don't know if you can maintain pseudonymity in that event (I'm not a lawyer).
As for tax records - who can access them where you live? Tax law.
There doesn't seem to be any other way for Joe Public to find out your real name: tax records/publisher/agent.
Good question though and one I'd been thinking about lately.
Any lawyer (or publisher) comments out there in MeFiLand?
posted by peacay at 11:27 PM on March 8, 2005

If you are doing business under your pseudonym, i.e. you need to cash checks made out to it, you will need to file a fictitious name form (or the local equivalent; sometimes it's called a DBA) with your county clerk. Your bank will want to see such a form before they'll cash checks made out to the pseudo. The whole purpose of this form is to make it easy for people to track you down by asking the county clerk. Of course, first they'd need to know where you live.
posted by kindall at 8:51 AM on March 9, 2005