Everyone has to use their real name - Anonymity Online 'Has to go away'

[tekla]

Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg: Anonymity Online 'Has To Go Away'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/27/randi-zuckerberg-anonymity-online_n_910892.html

"I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away," she said during a panel discussion on social media hosted Tuesday evening by Marie Claire magazine. "People behave a lot better when they have their real names down. ... I think people hide behind anonymity and they feel like they can say whatever they want behind closed doors."

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has also made this suggestion, calling online anonymity "dangerous" and predicting that governments will eventually "demand" that people use their names for all online activity.

[Vicky]

They want to totally bankrupt a whole segment of the online economy, thats all. -- The segment that makes all the nice little search stuff that eventually puts the pieces together and provides your SSN or other critical identity data to disclose who the pseudonym lives and breathes as!!  For shame!! 

[spacial]

I'd be happy to, when someone can figure out how to get rid of the weirdos and right wing nut cases who trawl around the net, attacking anyone they disagree with.

If these guys think they can sort out the age old problem of personal security, then bring it on.

As it stand, it's like calling for an end to war, and end to crime and an end to dishonesty. Hmm. I wonder if these guys might be interested in buying a second hand car, one careful owner?

Makes you realise just how utterly silly it is, even considering investing in an online company is, if these are the sort of people who make their livings online.

Good laugh though.

[Cindy]

All the good people obey the 'rule' all the bad don't, all the good people get ripped off by the bad people. It sounds a bit like something called society.

Cindy

[spacial]

Just read on the BBC news site that, apparently, Facebook insists upon real names.

I don't use facebook myself, but a few times I've looked at it, usually to follwo someone's link, the name was not their real one at all.

Now that's just cheating. Absolutely disgraceful. Not playing the game at all. I mean, to say, false names on Facebook, what are we to believe.

Used car anyone? One careful owner.

[LordKAT]

Most people I know use real names on facebook. I feel that is very foolish and won't do it.

[kyril]

I use my real name on Facebook, because I only use Facebook (under some extremely strict privacy settings) to interact with people who already know my real name from knowing me in person. And I don't put anything on Facebook that I wouldn't want seen by those people. Which means I don't put much up there.

As for the rest of the Internet...well, there's nothing quite like real names to stifle free speech, especially in an environment where employers have access to everything you've ever said online and are perfectly entitled to fire/refuse to hire you for your opinions.

[Annah]

Most people I know use real names on facebook. I feel that is very foolish and won't do it.

I use my real name on facebook. As long as you keep things private, I don't think there is much to worry about.

[Pica Pica]

Oh, I splash my name about like a jackson pollock...at the end of every blog post I put

[Randi]

I have a facebook page in my male persona with my real name and I have some family and old pals there so nobody I know uses an alias. I have thought about setting up a page with an alias just to try to have correspondence with trans folks but as yet have not tried. Everything on facebook is so tied to everything else, names, emails, ... I'll bet that I would have to open another email account with bogus info just to get a facebook that my other page friends couldn't find.

Then again, my name here is my name so there you go.

Randi

[TheAetherealMeadow]

This is so ridiculous. It's social networking, not a census or a phone book. They're just using the whole cyberbullying prevention as an excuse to invade our privacy, sell our information, and pretend that they care for our well being. What are they gonna do, make us submit a picture of our ID (which can easily be photoshopped)? And what about us trans people, who may not have our legal stuff changed?

These executives are so out of touch with their user bases. I bet average people could run their websites a lot better than they can.

[tekla]

an excuse to invade our privacy, sell our information, and pretend that they care for our well being

They are already doing that.

[Julie Marie]

Anonymity Online 'Has To Go Away'

Ok, you first.

[barbie]

It became an issue here about 3 years ago. Probably, S. Korea is the most infamous in that anonimity is abused to cause all kinds of social problems. It is interesting that Google and Facebook now agree on the need of real name verification.

Suicide spurs bid to regulate the net in South Korea.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/10/14/when-words-kill.html

Google refuses South Korean government's real-name system
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/349076.html
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2009/04/no_backbone_as.php

Barbie~~

[kyril]

Anonymity isn't a problem when everyone's anonymous. Privately harassing an anonymous person accomplishes little to nothing, and generates no satisfaction for the harasser, because the victim is free to change their pseudonym, and their real life isn't affected, and the harasser doesn't get to witness the results of their behaviour. And if an anonymous person wants to harass a person publicly under their real name, they'll have to do it in a public forum, where the content can and should be moderated. This (moderation) is where South Korea seems to be failing.

Hold the chat rooms etc. legally responsible for what users say there, and they'll start actively moderating and banning abusers - presto, problem solved while keeping anonymity intact.

Anonymity becomes a problem when the 'bad guys' have the choice to be anonymous while the 'good guys' are readily identifiable. That's where you get serious harassment that spills out into real life, embarrasses people, hurts their employment prospects, etc. And that's exactly the situation you get when you 'require' the use of real names, because it's simply unenforceable.

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

What is a "real" name?

Metta [ real name} Zenda

[Padma]

This reminded me of the poem:

The rain it falleth every day
Upon the just and unjust fella
But more upon the just, because
The unjust hath the just's umbrella

...and is pretty much equivalent to having gun laws which only the good guys pay attention to.

[nickikim]

All the good Sheeple will do what they`re told  . Just like gun control.

[Pica Pica]

This reminded me of the poem:

The rain it falleth every day
Upon the just and unjust fella
But more upon the just, because
The unjust hath the just's umbrella

...and is pretty much equivalent to having gun laws which only the good guys pay attention to.

That's my pal Ogden Nash isn't it?

[justmeinoz]

Do they really think that crooks are going to play by the rules, and not find ways around them?
THAT'S WHY THEY ARE CROOKS STUPID!!!