Creating a Legal Alias for Cam Work

[Smores]

In many professions, like acting, a person creates a legal alias in order to put some distance between her family and friends and her professional activity. In the cam girl world there is a similar need, but there is an even bigger requirement for personal safety. Many cam girls use their online identity to shield their location, to protect them from stalkers and overzealous fans. But what about creating an altered *legal* identity as well, to provide an extra layer of protection?

My first reading of the laws on these issues is that creating a legal alias is actually pretty difficult and - for cam girl work - may not even be useful. In general it looks like many states in the US strongly discourage any form of legal alias. To the extent that they support a legal alias at all, you have to go through all kinds of legal process that is put into the public record to establish a clear public record linking your new alias to your original real identity. That defeats the whole point of creating the alias. You cannot use it to shield identity, and in fact it would have the opposite effect of exposing your real identity because of the public records requirement.

I have some ideas on how you might get around this, in part. Could you create a corporation or LLC in a state - like Nevada - that does not require disclosure of the owners? Make the name of that legal business entity the same as your online identity. Have all payments from cam sites go to that legal entity.

The advantage of the above would be multiple:

* When you need to file legal claims - like DMCA takedown that is for content you own instead of some third party ownership like a webcam site - you can use the legal entity as the owner.

* It lowers your chance of audit by IRS, since IRS loves to audit individuals doing personal service work and filing as sole proprietors. To contrast, the audit rates on small income (<$1M) corporations is low.

* All packages and correspondence could be done to the legal entity, possibly using a mail forwarder in Nevada, so you would never need to expose your actual state of residence or real address.

How do others handle these issues?

 

[SaffronBurke]

If you are not a model, you have no reason to worry about this. Stop over thinking everything and just jack off, holy moly.

 

[Smores]

If you are not a model, you have no reason to worry about this. Stop over thinking everything and just jack off, holy moly.

And if my significant other wants to be a cam model and asked me to do some research for her????

Why is it you care about why I care? The topic of ACF is the business of doing webcam work. That's what I am discussing. All models benefit from those discussions.

 

[SaffronBurke]

And if my significant other wants to be a cam model and asked me to do some research for her????

Why is it you care about why I care? The topic of ACF is the business of doing webcam work. That's what I am discussing. All models benefit from those discussions.

If a potential model can't research for herself, she's not going to last in the industry.

Because you're nosy about shit that's none of your business. You don't need to know 90% of what you ask about on here, and some of it is shit that models don't even worry about that much, or they consider it, but nowhere near the degree you do.

 

[Miss_Lollipop]

In many professions, like acting, a person creates a legal alias in order to put some distance between her family and friends and her professional activity. In the cam girl world there is a similar need, but there is an even bigger requirement for personal safety. Many cam girls use their online identity to shield their location, to protect them from stalkers and overzealous fans. But what about creating an altered *legal* identity as well, to provide an extra layer of protection?

My first reading of the laws on these issues is that creating a legal alias is actually pretty difficult and - for cam girl work - may not even be useful. In general it looks like many states in the US strongly discourage any form of legal alias. To the extent that they support a legal alias at all, you have to go through all kinds of legal process that is put into the public record to establish a clear public record linking your new alias to your original real identity. That defeats the whole point of creating the alias. You cannot use it to shield identity, and in fact it would have the opposite effect of exposing your real identity because of the public records requirement.

I have some ideas on how you might get around this, in part. Could you create a corporation or LLC in a state - like Nevada - that does not require disclosure of the owners? Make the name of that legal business entity the same as your online identity. Have all payments from cam sites go to that legal entity.

The advantage of the above would be multiple:

* When you need to file legal claims - like DMCA takedown that is for content you own instead of some third party ownership like a webcam site - you can use the legal entity as the owner.

* It lowers your chance of audit by IRS, since IRS loves to audit individuals doing personal service work and filing as sole proprietors. To contrast, the audit rates on small income (<$1M) corporations is low.

* All packages and correspondence could be done to the legal entity, possibly using a mail forwarder in Nevada, so you would never need to expose your actual state of residence or real address.

How do others handle these issues?

You're overthinking this and I'm not sure why. This is ... all information available to models on this forum. LLC's, DBA's are a good idea. But not really for hiding your identity, more for tax and general business reasons.

Most sites will send DMCA takedown notices for content you own, even if it isn't their own recorded shows etc. If that alone is not enough most camgirls use DMCA take down companies, who are much better at getting this done.

For mail, if you want to hide your state you can use a mail forwarding service without needing to have a legal alias. You can just, ...get one.

Many professional camgirls will either register DBA or become an LLC / s corp. It has lots of benefits for ppl in certain tax brackets and this provides another layer of separation.. however it's still a good idea to keep that business name quietish as the personal info of the owners of those companies is easy enough to dig up if you want to.


The only other suggestion for this is to use a non disclosure agreement. You will have to share personal information with models you work with and other industry professionals unless you keep everything solo and self produced. Regardless of your 'alias' you have to prove you are over the age of 18 for 2257 requirements, as well as sharing STI results for fluid sharing. In those situations a NDA works wonders for making sure you're protected from people sharing your personal info.

 

[Smores]

Many professional camgirls will either register DBA or become an LLC / s corp. It has lots of benefits for ppl in certain tax brackets and this provides another layer of separation.. however it's still a good idea to keep that business name quietish as the personal info of the owners of those companies is easy enough to dig up if you want to.

Usually it is easy to penetrate an LLC/S-Corp name with a public records search. I was pointing out that you could form the entity in a state where the public records do not disclose ownership.

The only other suggestion for this is to use a non disclosure agreement. You will have to share personal information with models you work with and other industry professionals unless you keep everything solo and self produced. Regardless of your 'alias' you have to prove you are over the age of 18 for 2257 requirements, as well as sharing STI results for fluid sharing. In those situations a NDA works wonders for making sure you're protected from people sharing your personal info.

Thanks for that idea. The NDA is specific to other models you work with, not for use with any entities like a webcam site?

 

[Miss_Lollipop]

Usually it is easy to penetrate an LLC/S-Corp name with a public records search. I was pointing out that you could form the entity in a state where the public records do not disclose ownership.



Thanks for that idea. The NDA is specific to other models you work with, not for use with any entities like a webcam site?

Webcam sites have their own contracts that models should read carefully. They usually include privacy terms and conditions.

MY LLC is based in a state that does disclose, but I just don't share the LLC name with people who i don't have some form of privacy agreement with. It's on my checks, so those go to models i'm paying etc.. and only other people that need to know it is for setting up like merchant accounts, camsites, clipsites etc.. or my accountant.

There is no need for your LLC to match your cam name. You can just use an alias without making it legal or into a business name

 

[Dan Epstein]

These are expert freelancers, they don't need an offline hero. They actually teach me how to fend for myself sometimes

 

[Mira_xo]

There is no need for your LLC to match your cam name. You can just use an alias without making it legal or into a business name

Not only is there no need, you actually shouldn't. Most if not all states have LLC owners as public record. Your LLC name should have *nothing* to do with your online name.

 

[VeronicaChaos]

I don't understand this backlash. It's a good question, and one that we should probably discuss. I've spent a considerable amount of time researching this, and I'm glad that someone brought it up.

Of course, if you continue to use third parties for your entire adult career, you will never need a DBA or to disclose your LLC name. BUT if you ever want to run your own adult website (which I think should be encouraged of those performing in this industry) it suddenly becomes a very big deal.

The only way I know to maintain anonymity without using someone else to appear on public records is to open an off-shore account where owner records are classified, like Nevis. From there you can incorporate in Nevada, where you can hide the owner's private information. You still need a manager on public file, but you can list your off-shore account as the manager.

At least, this is the information I was able to find. There's really not a lot of resources on this subject.

Edited to add: anyone can incorporate in Nevada, regardless of where you live.