Years Later, Google Finally Dumps Its Ill-Advised Real Names Policy: Drops All Restrictions On Names

[KoKo]

Years Later, Google Finally Dumps Its Ill-Advised Real Names Policy: Drops All Restrictions On Names

Mike Masnick
Three years ago, we criticized Google for going down the same mistaken path as other social networks with a "real names" policy for its Google+ system. We pointed out how Friendster had made this mistake in 2003 and Facebook had also similarly focused on such policies in 2007 (through today), without recognizing the importance of enabling anonymity and pseudonymity. While some people insist that "real names" guarantees a higher level of conversation and/or participation, there is little evidence to support that. We've long seen on our own site that many of the most useful and insightful comments come from anonymous users. And people using their real names will often say some really dumb things.

While it's easy for some people to insist that there's no big deal here, the stories of people negatively impacted by such a policy were very moving. Stories about people who had been abused or stalked, fearing being re-discovered by their tormenters. Stories of transgender people who had not "come out" to co-workers, but were "forced" to. Stories of people trying to hide from death threats. These were not minor issues. Google adjusted its policy somewhat, but not entirely.

However, today the company announced that it was completely abandoning restrictions on naming within Google+. Not only that, in its announcement, the company admits that the old policy caused harm to people:

When we launched Google+ over three years ago, we had a lot of restrictions on what name you could use on your profile. This helped create a community made up of real people, but it also excluded a number of people who wanted to be part of it without using their real names.

Over the years, as Google+ grew and its community became established, we steadily opened up this policy, from allowing +Page owners to use any name of their choosing to letting YouTube users bring their usernames into Google+. Today, we are taking the last step: there are no more restrictions on what name you can use.

MORE AT:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140715/14165427881/years-later-google-finally-dumps-its-ill-advised-real-names-policy-drops-all-restrictions-names.shtml

[CBGLuthier]

1. I logged into my google+ yesterday and I swear I heard coyotes howling

and saw tumbleweeds blowing in the wind.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. All 14 Google+ users?

I can't even imagine who ever thought this was a good idea.

Luby the Riberal

[Nitram]

3. Years ago, when I started out on the internet

I liked the anonymity of an alias. Now I see it as just a way for trolls to sabotage good discussions without any consequences. Of course, I'm still using an alias...