Mastodawn

HumanRights&Business Aug 6, 2023

Forcing your computer to rat you out. ‘Zuckerberg insists that anyone who wanted to use a pseudonym online is "two-faced," engaged in dishonest social behavior. …Zuckerberg…claims that forcing people to use their own names is a way to ensure civility… From the very beginning, social scientists…told Zuckerberg that he was wrong. …a Real Names Policy affects different people differently.’ | Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/02/self-incrimination/ @pluralistic

Pluralistic: Forcing your computer to rat you out (02 August 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

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INIT_6 Aug 6, 2023

@HRandbusiness @pluralistic

Slightly related, Google+ had a requirement for using your real name. I of course didn't want to, I was using 'Jason Gutentug' and they banned me, but after getting about 40-60 people to say it was my real name, they accepted it.

Point being, even if they require real names, trust me, people will always find a way to trick the system.

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Zorin =^o.o^=Aug 6, 2023

@INIT6 @HRandbusiness @pluralistic Google Plus had so much potential. I remember starting to use it immediately because it was finally a place that did what Facebook did, without the real name requirement. I like being Zorin the Lynx on the Internet. I don't want to be my real life identity there socially.

Then of course they ruined it by demanding people use "real names”, which caused near everyone to leave after their friends started getting banned. The bans were badly implemented, disabling your entire Google account instead of just Plus. Even I left myself.

They must have realize they f-ed up, because they removed the policy, but by then the damage was done, it never came back to what it was and they killed it.

Bad decisions are part of Google culture I suppose.

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INIT_6

@zorinlynx @HRandbusiness @pluralistic

You remember the thing right before G+, the Google Maps thing 'Google Latitude' where you could see people around you.

Well, that was really bad; people didn't even realize their profiles were public and allowed people with amazing accuracy to connect real-life people with their online profiles.

I was able to DoXx people in real-time and scare the shit out of them with facts like where they lived, studied in school, etc.

(I only scared people in very public areas and mainly was bar bets, bet you a drink I can guess what you're studying in school)

Real identities, with real-world locations, with unclear privacy settings, well, .... is just so bad.