First of all I’ll cover some old ground and take us back just under four years to November 21st 2011. Author Salman Rushdie had been embroiled in a row with Facebook because they wouldn’t allow him to use the name “Salman Rushdie”. This was due to the fact that Salman Rushdie’s first name is actually Ahmed and initially Facebook changed his account to use that first name.
Eventually, Facebook saw sense and Salman Rushdie was allowed to use the name Salman Rushdie. A name he’s widely known as. Fast forward almost four years and numerous articles about the pro’s and cons of Facebook’s real name policy, Facebook are still at it when it comes to being stubborn over names, despite claims that they are relaxing their real name policy.
Alex Hern, in the linked Guardian article writes :
The new rules still officially require the use of “authentic names” on the site, something which has previously resulted in criticism from varied groups including the drag community, Native Americans, and trans people. While Facebook does not require the use of “legal names” on the site, it does demand that users identify with the name that other people know them by.
That doesn’t sound like much of a watering down of their policy to me. However further in the article Alex Hern writes :
Firstly, the site will now allow users to “provide more information about their circumstances” in order to “give additional details or context on their unique situation”.
According to the company’s VP of Growth, Alex Schultz, this should allow Facebook to accurately assess whether the name supplied fits with the rules. Additionally, he says: “It will help us better understand the reasons why people can’t currently confirm their name, informing potential changes we make in the future.”
Initially, that sounded a bit more positive, although it still requires users to jump through hoops and be authorised to use a name they are already widely known as. To highlight why this is still very much a problem we need to turn to Hamlet Au over at New World Notes who has been covering the Facebook problems faced by R.U. Sirius, AKA Ken Goffman.
On Thursday, before news of Facebook’s apparent watering down of their real name policy, Hamlet posted; Facebook Ironically Blocks Internet Pioneer for Using Long Established Pseudonym “R.U. Sirius” on Facebook. In that post Hamlet Points out that R.U. Sirius has a Wikipedia page, in the name R.U. Sirius. The start of the Wikipedia page states :
R. U. Sirius (born Ken Goffman in 1952 is an American writer, editor, talk show host, musician and cyberculture celebrity. He is best known as co-founder and original editor-in-chief of Mondo 2000 magazine from 1989 to 1993. Before that he founded and edited the magazines High Frontiers and Reality Hackers.
Hamlet has posted on the issue again today; Facebook Announces Plans to Improve “Real Names” Policy – But Internet Pioneer R.U. Sirius Still Blocked from Facebook. In the post Hamlet talks about the news of Facebook’s proposed watering down of their policy, but states that this is no comfort for R.U. Sirius :
However, none of this is much comfort to Internet pioneer Ken “R.U. Sirius” Goffman, who tells me he’s still banned from using Facebook as R.U. Sirius, despite making a personal plea to Sean Parker, Facebook’s first President (you know, Justin Timberlake in the movie), who’s a personal fan of Sirius’ influential magazine Mondo 2000. (With a masthead listing the editor-in-chief as being, you know, R.U. Sirius.)
There’s a lot more in Hamlet’s post and it’s well worth a read. Pseudonyms, especially when it’s a pseudonym as well known as R.U. Sirius are not a threat to Facebook in any way shape or form. People recognise the name and in this case, there’s no suggestion that R.U. Sirius is a fake person. Facebook really don’t need to be so stubborn in cases like this.
Facebook believe that their real name policy cuts down on abuse and that it helps people connect. However when someone is widely known by a pseudonym, there’s no issue with people connecting and when a pseudonym is so widely known, the person is also less likely to engage in abuse, because people know who it is. Now if the pseudonym is a well known troll I could see their point, but in the case of R.U. Sirius they are just being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn.
Facebook of course is a choice and I still suggest that Second Life users setup a Facebook page if they want to use their Second Life name on Facebook. Using a pseudonym on a Facebook page is compliant with Facebook’s terms of service, but it really shouldn’t be this difficult for Facebook to recognise the difference between throwaway accounts and accounts that use pseudonyms that have long histories.
However, if we head back to that Guardian article, Alex Hern states near the end :
The company does not, however, allow people who are known by a different name online and off- to provide evidence supporting their online persona on Facebook.
An online platform that doesn’t allow people to use their online identity, there’s something wrong with that picture.