Google+ Updates Real Name Policy

https://plus.google.com/109179785755319022525/posts/YcvRKqJeiZi

by ender7 • 15 years ago

49 59 15 years ago

plus.google.com

sp3322• 15 years ago

There are a lot of good comments on that page, too.

Also, the policy page now lists examples of violations. http://www.google.com/support/+/bin/answer.py?answer=1228271

JeffffreyF• 15 years ago

The only reason to banish anonominity is to prevent dissenting opinion. Period.

jsnell2• 15 years ago

That's a ridiculous and paranoid claim, bordering on tinfoil hat territory. There are plenty of practical reasons for why you'd want an online service to be tied to real identities. Reasons that a business would actually care about.

Which isn't to say that real names are necessarily the best choice. There are of course other reasons to be somewhere else on the continuum, like real identities with some freedom of presentation like nicknames, full pseudonymous identities, or full anonymity.

lukesandberg2• 15 years ago

I think what google is trying to prevent is not dissenting opinion but rather things like the fact that 80% of newt gingriches twitter followers being fake. They want to create a community based on honesty and real world identities. if you need to post something anonymously on the internet, there are plenty of ways to do that. For instance googles blogger TOS doesn't disallow pseudonyms. So if you need to publish anonymously then maybe G+ just isn't the place to do it.

Real names is obviously a tricky policy to enforce but there is value in it. I think that eventually the policies and enforcement will converge on a better solution. This is probably one of the reasons G+ is still in field trial.

nirvana3• 15 years ago

I think accusing someone of "bordering on tinfoil hat territory" is essentially a personal attack. You claim there are plenty of practical reasons, but you didn't list any. I can think of some, but none that are appropriate for a social network.

Think about it this way- would you exclude Mark Twain from your shelves if you ran a book store? Sure, you could say he's being dishonest by not posting under his real name, but he's part of a long tradition of people doing so, and for good reason, including those who published political pamphlets around the time of the american revolution.

There is also a very long history, continuing right up until the present day in many countries, of persecuting people for their dissenting opinions. Thus the comment you're replying to is not out of line-- it is a primary reason to use a pseudonym. And it is a real threat in countries like North Korea, Iran, etc.

Further, given the public statements from the US Federal Government ranging from branding anyone who has served in the military as a "potential terrorist" and the revelations of programs and software to correlate identities using social networks to "find terrorists", the threat even in the USA is not out of the realm of the reasonable.

In fact, if Google were being forced to engage in domestic spying- spying that might otherwise be thwarted by using an alias that prevents correlation- we are all familiar with the fact that they could be barred from even revealing it, given the recent penchant for secret court orders and "national security letters", and the provisions of the PATRIOT Act.

So, there's a slate of practical reasons-- though quite unsavory- to tie your online identity to your real name.

revscat3• 15 years ago

Western governments have a long history of shutting down dissenting opinion, infiltrating left-wing groups, and conducting various other undemocratic operations in order to further their own goals. And just yesterday the PM of Great Britain called for government controls over social networks. Google's motives here are questionable given their cozy relationship with US intelligence and law enforcement.

This is hardly "tinfoil hat territory". Rather it is simple history and current events.

jsm386• 15 years ago

Or to build up profiles they can match to sell ads against for demographic targeting.

jdp232• 15 years ago

They didn't actually change the policy, just the enforcement: you'll now get a 4-day grace period to produce ID or change your name before your account is suspended.

There's lots of discussion about this on G+:

Mike Elgan of Computerworld is at https://plus.google.com/113117251731252114390/posts/e3nC5XyA...

Marshall Kirkpatrick of Read Write Web is at https://plus.google.com/117421021456205115327/posts/BPKvVJm7... and https://plus.google.com/117421021456205115327/posts/EAMD7Pc9...

In all of these threads the comments are overwhelmingly pro-nym.

jsdalton2• 15 years ago

I don't understand. I just read the policy and it doesn't say anything about using your legal name (i.e. the one on your ID). It says:

"Your common name is the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your legal name is Charles Jones Jr. but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, any of these would be acceptable."

It doesn't seem like their policy precludes Lady Gaga from calling herself Lady Gaga. I guess I don't quite understand where the criticism you linked to is coming from.

jdp232• 15 years ago

The stated policy differs from the reality. If your account is flagged for potentially having a false name, you have to produce government ID or online evidence that it's your name, and they're very selective about what online they accept. And the details of the policy forbid single-word names, names that mix languages, or anything involving a number or punctuation.

Pyrodogg• 15 years ago

Because the distinction on how common and acceptable your name is just seems too absurd for a ban-able offence.

Note: If legal name is Charles Jones Jr. then Junior Jones is acceptable. That isn't the same as saying prefixing Junior in front of anything is ok.

Also lumping friends, family, co-workers together doesn't fit for everyone.

I'm known primarily by Skyler, Sky, Skydogg, and Pyrodogg. All in 'real life', among different groups of people. Who is to say that Pyrodogg isn't my common name if you're talking about the 80+ members of my hackerspace?

Sure, it's my online moniker but it has migrated back out into the real world as my "common name" with those people.

yesimahuman2• 15 years ago

I don't see why it matters at all. Who cares what my friends commonly call me? It's up to me to decide what I want to be called on G+.

nirvana3• 15 years ago

I've noticed I use Google+ a lot less these days. Stopped when I first heard about this policy. Not in protest, just a whole lot less trusting of them now. Kinda like I stopped using Facebook when they made previously private data public by default. (Only reason I opened a Facebook account in the first place was their strong privacy policy.)

I'm not putting my foot down, but mulling it over, and I think I'm done with google. They did a good job with plus and I had high hopes, but their ... rigidness... shows what I see as a disrespect for their users.

I'll be moving my mail off of gmail onto paid mail hosts, etc, as soon as we get mail setup for the new company.

In the 1990s I removed Microsoft from my life completely. I think I'll keep a company page on Facebook, and maybe the equivalent on google plus if they allow it, but no more for the personal stuff.

I think there's a huge opportunity for a startup that operates a social network that actually caters to people's desire for anonymity and privacy.

sixtofour6• 15 years ago

"I think there's a huge opportunity for a startup that operates a social network that actually caters to people's desire for anonymity and privacy."

The problem here is that any successful endeavor will inevitably turn evil in some way. Once millions and billions are on the table, investors and shareholders will force the proprietors to scrape every bit of money possible off the table. That will usually involve some user-unfriendly behavior, like Google's real name, Facebook's ever changing privacy policy, and LinkedIn's recent emulation of FB.

The only way that social networks can be pro-user is if they are a standards-based commodity like email, where anyone is free to implement the standard and offer the service. You can get the same email service anywhere you want, interoperable with every standards based server on the planet. It should be the same with twitter-like message bursts, and social networks.

As it is now, bursting and socializing is built similar to early telephone networks, where many companies offered networks, they didn't connect to each other, and businesses had to have multiple network accounts to be able to interact with all their customers. That's just wrong.

fastmail.fm offers excellent email service. They should also (be able to) offer standards based bursting and socializing; so should anyone else who wants to.

politician• 15 years ago

"The only way that social networks can be pro-user is if they are a standards-based commodity like email, where anyone is free to implement the standard and offer the service."

This already exists for social data, it's called The Locker Project. http://lockerproject.org/#vision

iamdave• 15 years ago

I think there's a huge opportunity for a startup that operates a social network that actually caters to people's desire for anonymity and privacy.

What IS diaspora doing these days?

sp3322• 15 years ago

Their blog hasn't been updated since June http://blog.joindiaspora.com/ , but the Twitter feed has a couple a features they've added recently https://twitter.com/#!/joindiaspora They just sent out a survey to early adopters asking them about how they're using the service and what they should focus on.

jemeshsu• 15 years ago

Can Lady Gaga join Google+ since it is not her real name?

lhnz• 15 years ago

I'm sure they will allow you to use a fake name if you fashion yourself as a brand backed by wealthy investors... :)

sixtofour6• 15 years ago

I suppose celebrities will all use business accounts, once Google implements that.

RexRollman• 15 years ago

I think I will be closing my Google account. Google won't miss me but that's okay.

libria• 15 years ago

I would prefer Joanne Rowling, Mauritus Escher and Clive Lewis use their more common monikors than Google compliant ones. I don't even know DMX's real name.

It feels like Google is trying to enforce something most of us associate with our identity. What's surprising is how stubborn they are about it.

It will only lead to people creating fake names that pass the filters, as "Holden tattboy" demonstrates in the comments.

cmars• 15 years ago

I left G+ a week ago, deleting my G+ account and profile. I'll be shopping for a gmail alternative as well.

After trying G+ out for a bit, I decided that I just didn't need it. A lot of my less technical friends & family use FB. I don't care much for it, but I've come to regard it as an inherently privacy-free unsafe/insecure zone and treat it accordingly. I stay logged out of it when I'm not using it and keep it out of my usual online activities.

G+ blurred the line too much between regular browsing, search, gmail, my RSS reader, and all these "circles" of FB/Twitter-like social interaction. It just felt like it would be too easy to make a mistake and say the wrong thing in the wrong context, or find that I was sharing in a way I didn't want to. And that's assuming the service works as intended without flaws, without FB-style policy changes.

I've come to realize that fragmented, disconnected identities on separate websites is a feature. Yes, the dots can be connected by someone with significant resources. But why should I make these connections easy to make, or searchable? Doesn't do anything for me.

revscat3• 15 years ago

> I've come to realize that fragmented, disconnected identities on separate websites is a feature. Yes, the dots can be connected by someone with significant resources. But why should I make these connections easy to make, or searchable? Doesn't do anything for me.

I've come to a similar realization, and reacted against G+ in much the same way. Maybe the NSA or ONI can figure out who 'revscat' really is -- and honestly, in my case it wouldn't be that difficult -- but Google already knows more about me than I feel comfortable with. The only way I would consider switching from FB to G+ was if Google completely reversed their 'real name' policy and allowed/encouraged pseudonyms.

The internet has a long, long history of anonymity. I will continue to do what I can to support this.

Sargis• 15 years ago

> Maybe the NSA or ONI can figure out who 'revscat' really is

I decided to do a little experiment and try to find out who you really are. In about 20 minutes I found out your internet service provider, in which city you live and your username seems to be linked to "Rev. Scatological Warfare". Am I on the right track?

> but Google already knows more about me than I feel comfortable with

But how exactly are they going to link all your google searches to your real identity, if you've always used a pseudonym when using Gmail or any other Google service?

yesimahuman2• 15 years ago

I had the same impression. So many privacy features, yet everything feels so public.

dredmorbius3• 15 years ago

That's pretty much my take as well.

As a social network, G+ has too many warts. It's a royal f@cking timesuck.

As a social service, it's a huge privacy suck as well.

And I'm looking to get off of my Android phone and gmail account in the future (it's principally associated with the phone).

It'll be interesting to see what happens to the G+ early adopters from here.

I'm reminded of a SciFi short story probably written in the 1970s. A global identity system was being created, and one of the members of the team was given the opportunity to opt out of it. There's enough "papers, please" associations I have with this whole concept that it's highly disturbing.

huhtenberg• 15 years ago

> ... we strive ... to make connecting with people on the web more like connecting with people in the real world

Oh, man... where do I begin... I am certainly not the only one who specifically does not want to connect to the people on the web like I would connect in the real world.

doctoboggan4• 15 years ago

I know this opinion might not be popular here, but I support the enforcement of real (istic) names. If you are honestly that concerned about your privacy, but still want desperately to join an online social network where you share personal details, why not make up a name that simply sounds realistic? They won't ban an Alfred or a Henry, and you can still enjoy all the anonymity you can handle.

I guess I just don't see the big deal here. If I am missing something, feel free to fill me in.

saraid216• 15 years ago

You're saying that you should lie about who you are in order to fit in. Some people don't want to lie. Forcing them to do so, by creating a situation in which it is an optimal solution, is unethical and wrong.

doctoboggan4• 15 years ago

No, I am saying if you really feel the need to join google+ and you do not want anyone to know who you actually are, you can make up a name. If you personally have ethical problems with false names, then no, you should not do this. You should refrain from joining the google+ social network.

silverbax88• 15 years ago

Well, what's your real name and address, 'doctoboggan'?

doctoboggan4• 15 years ago

If I friended you on G+, you would know it. (well not my address) But we are not on G+, we are on a site that allows pseudonymous and is designed around that idea.

wmf• 15 years ago

The real problem is not anonymity but that people who do use their real names on G+ are getting their accounts disabled because somebody at Google thinks their real name looks fake.

doctoboggan4• 15 years ago

I agree that that is a problem. I think google also agrees and that is why they came out with these new procedures.

dredmorbius3• 15 years ago

That is a problem.

The real problem is markedly more nuanced than that, however.

yariang• 15 years ago

"We’re listening, learning, and iterating to give our users the best experience possible."

No. You're not. Nobody has complained about lack of a grace period. We complain about the policy in the first place. This grace period is almost a little bit insulting. It's like saying "beg for mercy and repent for your sins and we will forgive and let you use our social network."

Perhaps the above is a bit sensational, but the point stands.

pasbesoin• 15 years ago

And if you can't change your policy, at least be honest and make a straightforward, cogent, logical statement as to why.

For me, the policy smells. And I think for many, that's enough to make their decision.

(Even though I decided I was willing to give Plus a try, with restricted participation/circles, until account freeze-out became a concern.)

ltamake• 15 years ago

Google just doesn't get it.

jhdavids8• 15 years ago

Why doesn't Google force you to register with your real name but allow you to display a pseudonym? I usually support Google but this makes little sense. Force me to register with Jamie, but if I decide I want to be displayed as some nickname, who the hell cares.

rjd• 15 years ago

Thats the same thought I had.

After some thought on my latest project I wrote a membership provider for the .net frame work to specifically handle this.

I decided I wanted single sign and opted for oauth via Facebook (maybe more later). I understand users don't there personal details in my system so I've create a hybrid persona construct (or "Actor" as I called the instantiated entities, inherits the system "MembershipUser" class so I can plug it straight into anything .net).

I store a Authentication record from FB for the oauth to work, a few other bits and pieces. Then users can create "Persona" entities, and from the combination of those two the "actor" exists.

Doesn't seem like rocket science to me... and hopefully user testing will show it makes it smooth and seamless for the users and offer them plenty of protection (as in the site involves politics and being anonymous is very important).

sixtofour6• 15 years ago

The emphasis on "real" life is an absurdly ironic policy for a company that made its billions online, where people have been known by email addresses ("dragonworrier@hotmail.com") or chosen pseudonyms ("dragonworrier") since before people started asking "are you on email?"

EDIT: Changed "stopped" to "started."

smokey_the_bear• 15 years ago

I use Google Plus less because of this system. I got married in May, and would like to display my name in Google Plus the same way I do in Facebook- Smokey Bear Husbandsname. At least for a year or two it would really help people find me. Alas, there's not an option to display middle name, and it is stuck as Smokey Husbandsname.

I don't have an ID in that name yet either, so I guess I'm even at risk of losing my account.

darklajid• 15 years ago

The fun part is that, if you are suspended, as I am, you cannot use G+ at all anymore.

You end up with a dialog on all pages that basically tells you to go screw yourself and go elsewhere. Or - change the name. So - delete it is, now.

http://ben.sh/GoodbyeGPlus.png

majmun• 15 years ago

> As always, Google believes you own your data

joke of the week

dredmorbius3• 15 years ago

What's particularly stunning is this damning peremptory indictment of G+'s "Real Names" policy by some rabidly anti-Google zealot: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/02/freedom-to-be...

"Pseudonyms and anonymity are also an established part of many cultures -- for good reason."

Google+ Updates Real Name Policy

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