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Google & Facebook Are Pushing To Replace Anonymity Online For Real Identities Only: Good Idea Or Bad?
9.20.11]------Cyber titans Facebook and Google are pushing to ban anonymity online or at least on their domain. They reportedly feel using real identities foster better communication...
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This is a step in the right direction. Please see my article on cyberstalking and harassment. The use of fake names is addressed with deadly consequences.
We are not allowed to use fake names when getting a library card, credit card or taking out an ad in the newspaper. I can't think of any instances when the use of fake identities are allowed, encouraged or tolerated.
Our identity is our passport to credibility. People who choose to use fake names usually have a reason for hiding.
Please see my article on cyberstalking.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/10390313-cyberstalking-and-harassment-how-to-identify-react-and-report
I too wrote about online bullying a few months ago and I know it can have deadly consequences. The ironic thing is revealing true identities can also contribute to the same deadly results! Plus the library etc doesn't sell our info to third parties so that's a bit different.
So what this push for full disclosure might bring about, in my opinion, is less open discourse because of an underlying fear that being on the "wrong" side could lead to reprisals. A blogger friend of mine who supported Obama in 2008 got jumped in a parking lot by some goons with, shall we say, interests in seeing Obama lose. They didn't rough him up too badly, but they sent a message.
Let the user choose, I say. As Robert Weller pointed out, the "real" user name, the one that can be tracked, comes from the IP provider. If Google and Facebook want people to be "nicer" when they comment and exchange ideas, that is great. So why not deal directly with that issue rather than forcing people to make themselves more vulnerable and open to public scrutiny?
Another example would be the Board of Directors of a large corporation. Do they have to reveal their identities every time they speak on behalf of the "brand" they are affiliated with? No. We can find that information out if we are diligent enough, but a name like "Burger Foods" or "Grocery Shop Store" or FU Repeatedly Corp. are like user names for the people with much more power than online scribes sharing their thoughts with the world.
If corporations can obscure their true identities, so can people. Human rights and corporate rights are not mutually exclusive - at least not yet.