How to find out if a sole trader has to give name, address and email on website?

cashferret

Thanks, J_B. You can pay extra to not appear on 'who is' look-ups - I've done that on websites. Perhaps you did that?

What do you mean by address details being disposable?

Sandtree

J_B said:

Just did a quick 'who is' search on my website - no address details were found, nor any email address, but these are disposable if you are concerned

The OP is discussing the legal requirement to disclose the information... obviously anyone can act illegally and hide their details or give false details. Just head over to the Consumer Rights forum and you'll see many asking for help with the consequences of buying from such websites.

J_B

cashferret said:

Thanks, J_B. You can pay extra to not appear on 'who is' look-ups - I've done that on websites. Perhaps you did that?

Me? Pay extra? Never!!!

cashferret said:

What do you mean by address details being disposable?

I said email addresses are disposable, you can use a gmail/hotmail etc address if you don't want to use your real email address and are worried about spam

Sandtree said:

J_B said:

Just did a quick 'who is' search on my website - no address details were found, nor any email address, but these are disposable if you are concerned

The OP is discussing the legal requirement to disclose the information... obviously anyone can act illegally and hide their details or give false details. Just head over to the Consumer Rights forum and you'll see many asking for help with the consequences of buying from such websites.

Sorry, I don't fully understand your point. Presumably I gave my details when I registered my domain with Nominet (?) in 2001 but when I just searched whois for my info, I couldn't see it publicly displayed.

Sandtree

J_B said:
Sorry, I don't fully understand your point. Presumably I gave my details when I registered my domain with Nominet (?) in 2001 but when I just searched whois for my info, I couldn't see it publicly displayed.

Did you read the link to the Information Commissioners Office? It states the legal requirement for commercial enterprises who collect visitors' data to identify themselves? The OP is talking about their "associate" promoting their own book(s)

It therefore begs the question on when the UK Regulator states you must identify yourself why your post points out its easy to hide information? Nominet is simply a commercial entity, the ICO enforces GDPR requirements with fines of up to £20m or 4% of turnover, whichever is higher.

J_B

Sandtree said:

......... the ICO enforces GDPR requirements with fines of up to £20m or 4% of turnover, whichever is higher.

 ...  but, have they ever done so?

Sandtree

J_B said:

Sandtree said:

......... the ICO enforces GDPR requirements with fines of up to £20m or 4% of turnover, whichever is higher.

 ...  but, have they ever done so?

About £44m so far

Mistral001

cashferret said:

I know that a limited company has to give these things, but what about a sole trader who isn't selling goods directly from their site?
I have a friend who is a writer. She wants to set up a website under her pen name. She won't be selling books from the website - rather, she'll be linking to her books on Amazon.
Obviously, she doesn't want to use her real name. And for privacy, she doesn't want to give her home address (she doesn't have any other address and anyone can ask the Royal Mail to tell them who an PO Box belongs to). And she doesn't want to provide an email address (as opposed to a contact form) because she's heard it'll get picked up by bots and spammed to death.
She's searched all over the Internet and has seen a lot of contradictory opinions but can't find up-to-date, authoritative information about this. Ideally, she'd like a government source of info, or something equally solid.
Can anyone help?

Trading Standards I think is the government body  which deals with this matter.  They are not centralised, so you will have to deal with the one local to you.  For example Kent Trading Standards have  some details of information that should be put on websites in following link:
Get-it-right-protect-your-business.pdf (kent.gov.uk)