Show threadCory DoctorowAug 2, 2023

People have lots of reasons to hide their identities online, both good and bad, but a #RealNamesPolicy affects different people differently:

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/01/22/social-scientists-have-warned-zuck-all-along-that-the-facebook-theory-of-interaction-would-make-people-angry-and-miserable/

For marginalized and at-risk people, there are plenty of reasons to want to have more than one online identity - say, because you are a #MeToo whistleblower hoping that #HarveyWeinstein won't sic his ex-Mossad mercenaries on you:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies

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Social scientists have warned Zuck all along that the Facebook theory of interaction would make people angry and miserable – Cory Doctorow's MEMEX

Cory DoctorowJan 25, 2023

A common refrain from #Facebook apologists and anti-anonymity activists is that its #RealNamesPolicy promoted "civility" by making users "accountable" for their words. In this conception, snuffing out anonymous speech is key to protecting "the vulnerable" from trolls and other bad actors.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/24/nationalize-moderna/#hun-sen

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