On Pseudonymity, Privacy and Responsibility on Google+

On Pseudonymity, Privacy and Responsibility on Google+
Persistent pseudonyms aren’t ways to hide who you are. They provide a way to be who you are. You can finally talk about what you really believe; your real politics, your real problems, your real sexuality, your real family, your real self. Much of the support for “real names” comes from people who don’t want to hear about controversy, but controversy is only a small part of the need for pseudonyms. For most of us, it’s simply the desire to be able to talk openly about the things that matter to every one of us who uses the Internet. The desire to be judged—not by our birth, not by our sex, and not by who we work for—but by what we say.

August 22, 2011 by Uncategorized 1

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1 Response

  1. Anonymous says:
    August 23, 2011 at 9:17 am

    A really wonderful discussion
    And it all makes lots of sense. But it only touches on a section that I think is important.
    Yes Google says do no evil, but the point is they can do what they want. You aren’t made to use their network. It was said that you use the networks that exist and you already use. Very true, but if you want something that one place doesn’t provide you go somewhere else. They don’t ‘have’ to do anything if they don’t want to, if they think it won’t make them money etc. People seem to miss that fact. You can want something but doesn’t mean they have to listen to you.

    I would have thought starting a brand new system from scratch with EXACTLY what people want is the way to go, rather than trying to adapt an existing system. Even if they allowed it there can be little tweaks, little slips of information (Look at Facebook and Google Wave for that) that mean the anonimity disappears.
    Safer to start brand new and know exactly where you stand from day one in my mind.

    Great to have started the piece with the reinforcement that Facebook etc does not have freedom of speech as it is a private network. I am always amazed how many people don’t get that.

    Reply

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