“Pen Names” and Free Email Accounts

There was an article in the November issue of Wired, yeah, I know I’m behind on my reading … who isn’t these days?

So, in the article it discusses the issue of using dummy personal data to protect your privacy when setting up a free email account with Yahoo! or Hotmail (owned by Microsoft). Many marketers use Pen Names to disguise their identity for much the same reason. What does Yahoo! and Microsoft think about this practice?

They aren’t thrilled.

The terms of service are pretty clear on this (yeah, we’ve ALL read those ToS). And Yahoo! is the most clear stating you agree to “provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself,” or they reserve the right to terminate your account and ban you forever.

Personally, I’ve never known anyone who has been banned for this … and I have many accounts with both to service my various projects - in fact, I love to sign up for many of the marketing guru’s lists to see what they “peddle” to free loaders (non-paying list members). Sometimes it can be quite humorous.

In the article it stated when a Microsoft rep was pressed, they admitted Microsoft does little in the “policing” department.

“Microsoft relies on the customer to provide accurate information; we do not proactively confirm the accuracy of the personal information provided.”

Just play it cool and don’t do anything which would be deemed illegal (your definition may vary). If you use a dummy account to read an out of town paper, that’s pretty harmless. Using a dummy account for an online dating service with a fake name because your married, well, that could cause you more problems than just with the email police, just ask John Bobbit.

Also, using a Pen Name and fictitious email to register domain names is a bad idea. You are REQUIRED to provide correct information there. If you don’t, or more importantly, if your competitor doesn’t, you can report them and if they don’t clean up their act, they will lose their domain, which you can register and really make their day a bad one.