“For Those Who Don’t Want To Believe”

For even the marginally imaginative, real name policies are quite easy to skirt around. For example, I don't see how it's difficult for me to create a second Yahoo! mail account under the name Don Kim, then use it to sign up for Facebook, and in turn use it to sign up for a string of other services. Facebook and Google's real name policy is nothing like the real name policy in Korea, which requires real name verification against the social security number database when signing up for just about any major website... and even Korea's real name verification can be circumvented. My position is that Facebook and Google are simply building policies into their service that encourage day-to-day, non-I'm-suffering-from-government-oppression purposes... certainly that makes sense from an addressable market perspective. Further, I don't think that FB and Big G(oogle) are precluding the committed from launching and maintaining a campaign of revolution, in fact, they make it easier... because there is a presumption that FB and G+ names are real, when in fact they need not be.
Reply · 9 ·  · 23 hours ago

David Y. Lee ·  Top Commenter · Founder/CEO at Shakr Media
I want to follow up by expressing my full support for the dialogue around privacy. It's a necessary dialogue.
Reply ·  · 9 hours ago

Jon Evans ·  Top Commenter · Waterloo
You're quite right, their policies are - currently - quite easy to skirt around. But that's like saying, of a bad law that would chill free speech, "That's OK, they're not ever going to enforce it." But

a) it's very easy to envision them eventually enforcing it, in the context of proposals like the USA's National Internet ID (http://gizmodo.com/5729144/obama-administration-sets-ambiguous-national-internet-id-program-in-motion)

b) as pseudonymous users become better known, they're more likely to be shut down - there are already multiple instances of G+ requesting copies of government ID from their users!
...See More
Reply ·  · about an hour ago

David Y. Lee ·  Top Commenter · Founder/CEO at Shakr Media
Guns kill people. Guns are often necessary to overthrow oppressive governments. Laws that restrict ownership of guns are good, but quite easy to skirt around.

Laws are all imperfect, and always subject to interpretation. That's why we have a mostly independent judiciary in most developed nations. The question we should ask is, "does the good outweigh the bad?" In the case of real name verification, there is a substantial amount of good that is done... unfortunately, I do agree that it does inconvenience (and potentially impede) some who seek to do good against the will of the authorities. But really, let's weight the good vs. bad. Real name verification in Korea has enabled a dynamic internet communication culture that is full of cleaner discourse and trust, thereby changing countless lives. I can tell story after story of how the Internet has changed the lives of people across all political and financial spectrums in what used to be a very isolated country. Laws like gun control and policies like real name verification are drastically flawed. How we interpret, implement and enforce them is where we show our humanity.
Reply ·  · 15 minutes ago

John Fernandez
your entire article is irrelevant considering google+ will not exist in 6 months. welcome to the new buzz orkut picasa wave knol video android fragmentation.
Reply · 4 ·  · Yesterday at 11:32am

Jimmie River · Works at Never had a job in my life
Wow you are so clueless. Have you even used google+? Do you know they have 40M+ users? Do you know they have an extremely high engagement level? Also, orkut have a 40% market share in Brasil, you dont think that makes money? Picasa is a fail? Really? And hopefully I got that last one wrong, because youre not suggesting android is a fail do you? I mean even though your post is beyond ridic you cant be that ignorant.
Reply · 1 ·  · 22 hours ago

Jimmie River · Works at Never had a job in my life
Shannon Mason My post was directed to John if you didnt get that, sorry if you thought it was directed to you, I agree with your post. What is it with my post you think is ridic? What points are clueless? Because it looks to me we are at the same page here..
Reply ·  · 21 hours ago

John Fernandez
Jimmie River orkut had 20% marketshare ....in 2006. we're not in 2006 anymore last time we checked, facebook is#1 in brazil (90%) since 2009. youre obviously very clueless. Yes, picasa is a failure, noone uses it. Android makes Microsoft more profit than google. latest estimates have Microsoft getting over $500 million in patent royalty fees from android OEMs, while google is making pennies from mobile advertisments. android is Fragmented beyond belief, 70% of android users dont have last years gingerbread update.
Reply ·  · 21 hours ago
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Kody Scalzi · McKinney North High School
Can't you just use a fake name that sounds real? I understand since they want to get the word out they would like to use Facebook and such, but you fake name doesn't need to be a username...
Reply · 2 ·  · Yesterday at 12:17pm

Jon Evans ·  Top Commenter · Waterloo
For now, yes, but see my reply to David Y. Lee.
Reply ·  · about an hour ago

Max Woolf ·  Top Commenter · Carnegie Mellon University
I'd hate to be named Guy Fawkes right now...
Reply · 2 ·  · Yesterday at 11:18am

Hendrik Jeremy Mentz
Jon, your post was sobering. What resonated for me was 'Unfortunately, the kind of people who head major online services live such incredibly cosseted existences...' What also spoke to me was your title: 'For Those Who Don’t Want To Believe.' What happened to Marisol Macias Castaneda (and others like her) was horrible. Thank you for your focus and your presience.
Reply · 1 ·  · 7 hours ago

Damon Pace ·  Top Commenter · Palo Alto, California
In dangerous situations like the Mexican drug cartels I agree people should be able to remain anonymous. However, that's only.0001% of the online population. Most of the time anonymous bloggers, reviewers, commenters end up just being trolls trying to cause problems. While there is a need for anonymity on the web, it's a small need. FB, Google+, etc serve all of the web...not a small percentage of it.
Reply · 1 ·  · Yesterday at 1:21pm

Felix Sulla ·  Top Commenter · Rome, Italy
Damon, I consider your comment trolling. May I cut off your head, now? You're only causing problems.
Reply ·  · Yesterday at 5:15pm

John Fernandez
Felix Sulla the only troll here is you.
Reply ·  · 7 hours ago

Felix Sulla ·  Top Commenter · Rome, Italy
John Fernandez, I don't set out to dispute that. It's your right (just as mine) to consider whoever you want a troll; that includes me. What I dispute is Damon's right to decide when or why OTHER people than himself have the need for anonymity on the web.
Reply ·  · 5 hours ago
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Carson Stuart · Hardware Manager at Symmetricom
Excellent article advocating why online pseudonymity is so important:
"The sign next to Castaneda’s headless body was addressed, “For Those Who Don’t Want To Believe.” That’s a pretty good description of anyone who thinks that online pseudonymity is no big deal."
Reply ·  · Yesterday at 11:48am

Rick Desi
Wow, there is no way this can be generalized to everyone. I see your point, but this is just a fringe case. Also, you don't have to use Google+ or those social media sites if you are that concerned about your safety.
Reply ·  · Yesterday at 1:37pm

Saurabh Mhatre · Cranfield Uni.
do take time to read this. a must read for any one who feels social media plays imp. part in life.
Reply ·  · Yesterday at 11:45am

Benoit Maison · Owner/CEO at Vision Smarts
Well put! Please keep hammering away at that issue.
Reply ·  · Yesterday at 11:17am

Josh Leong · Santa Monica College
Where can I get one of these masks, I need one...
Reply ·  · Yesterday at 4:21pm

Felipe Adams ·  Top Commenter · Jobs, Cellphones, Music & Deals at Digitalundivide.com
This article is not too interesting because we can't blame every human error on technology.

A good news is that you can get the Kindle Fire right now from a trusted source for $199. http://pnoy.me/9F
Reply ·  · Yesterday at 12:00pm

Josh Greenwood · Louisville, Kentucky
The bad news is that spamming on TC where readers are generally technically inclined is a big waste of your time. Your site looks like its from the 1980s