Writer declares victory in another naming policy battle
Google+ isn't the only social network having issues with its user name policy. Writer Salman Rushdie reported on Monday that his Facebook account had been deactivated, and after Facebook demanded proof of his identity to get it reactivated, the social networking giant then automatically renamed it to Ahmed Rushdie. Ahmed is Rushdie's first name, but he only uses it on official documents; the world knows him as Salman.
It only took about two hours of social firestorm on Twitter for Facebook to change its mind and allow him to be known as Salman Rushdie once again, but the altercation highlights the growing issue of online identity. How important is it that we are who we say we are for our various faces on the internet, and who decides what we can and cannot call ourselves?
Writers, political activists, artists, and other personalities have been using pseudonyms for centuries. Some want to obfuscate their real identity for safety reasons, or so that they can speak freely about a subject they might otherwise feel compelled to be more circumspect about.
On the other side of the coin, there is an argument for having one's real identity visible on the internet. It's important for celebrities and political figures to be able to ensure that only they can claim to be themselves, and keep jokers and miscreants from making use of their fame for nefarious ends. And companies which deal in monetary transactions, or use their services to verify user identities (such as signing in to an iPhone app using your Facebook account), need a way to make sure that users are who they say they are.
It's definitely an ongoing issue, and one that will likely not end up with a simple answer any time soon.
[Image credit: Alan O'Rourke]
[via New York Times]
This article was written by Katherine Gray and originally appeared on Tecca
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