danah boyd | apophenia » “Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power

/real-names.html

  • “Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power (danah boyd)
    http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2011/08/04/real-names.html

    The people who most heavily rely on pseudonyms in online spaces are those who are most marginalized by systems of power. “Real names” policies aren’t empowering; they’re an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people. These ideas and issues aren’t new (and I’ve even talked about this before), but what is new is that marginalized people are banding together and speaking out loudly. And thank goodness. (...)

  • “Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power - danah boyd
    http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2011/08/04/real-names.html

    The people who most heavily rely on pseudonyms in online spaces are those who are most marginalized by systems of power. “Real names” policies aren’t empowering; they’re an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people. These ideas and issues aren’t new (and I’ve even talked about this before), but what is new is that marginalized people are banding together and speaking out loudly. And thank goodness.

    (...)

    Then along comes #Google+, thinking that it can just dictate a “real names” policy. Only, they made a huge mistake. They allowed the tech crowd to join within 48 hours of launching. The thing about the tech crowd is that it has a long history of nicks and handles and pseudonyms. And this crowd got to define the early social norms of the site, rather than being socialized into the norms set up by trusting college students (...) Tech folks are VERY happy to speak LOUDLY when they’re pissed off.

    #pseudonymes