Tom Nardi
News that Google would be relenting on it’s much criticized decision to require “real” names on Google+ has been making the rounds today, bringing renewed hope to those who avoided the service because of privacy concerns. Unfortunately, closer examination of the statements from Google and a quick check on the updated profile settings is all it takes to see that the situation hasn’t changed much at all; people who didn’t like the policy before probably won’t feel any different about it today.
Google+ “Real Name” Policy
Since the start, Google+ has required that users provide their “real” name, rather than an online pseudonym. This decision was met with considerable criticism from the community, as it leads to a number of privacy and logistical problems. What about users with unusual names? What if users don’t feel comfortable providing their legal names? What about people who are better known by their online handle than their legal names? How do you police whether a user has given their legal name, and not just another “real” sounding name? The name requirement has it’s own page on the Google+ support site:
Google+ makes connecting with people on the web more like connecting with people in the real world. Because of this, it’s important to use your common name so that the people you want to connect with can find you. Your common name is the name your friends, family or coworkers usually call you.
Google has maintained that this decision has been in the best interests of the Google+ community, and didn’t appear to be budging until a recent post by Google+ VP Bradley Horozitz revealed an apparent relaxing of the rules to accommodate some common name issues:
Over the next week, we’ll be adding support for alternate names – be they nicknames, birth names, or names in another script – alongside your common name. This name will show up on your Google+ profile and in the hovercards which appear over your name.
What’s Changed? What hasn’t?
The new features being rolled out will address two major issues with the Google+ name policy: the ability to add a nickname, and enhanced functions for using an established name or identity in place of a legal name (such as Madonna). While this sounds like a big improvement over the previous rules, there are some very important things to consider which you might not realize at first glance.
The most glaring issue is the fact that a nickname is not the same thing as a pseudonym. The new nickname support for Google+ allows you to add a nickname, in addition to, your legal name. This change of policy doesn’t remove the requirement of using your real name on Google+, it simply let’s you augment that with your online handle or other moniker. True pseudonym support can only happen when Google completely drops the real name requirement, and let’s the average user sign up for Google+ with just their online handle. This change therefore doesn’t address the concerns of those worried about their online privacy in the slightest.
To further complicate matters, you may be required to prove your nickname is actually yours. The requirements for this seem very vague, which is likely to cause more problems down the road. For example, one of the possible ways to prove your nickname is the one you are known by is through “an established identity online with a meaningful following”; which would seem to indicate that you will not only need a blog or website that features your name, but that it must meet certain popularity requirements. Exact information on how popular your source needs to be and who makes that determination is notably absent from this announcement.
Personal Problems
When I read about this change in policy, even with it’s problems, I decided to go onto my own Google+ page and see if I couldn’t attach my online handle “MS3FGX” to my real name. From my understanding of the post, I should at the very least be able to attach my completely unique and non-trademarked nickname onto my account which is already in complete accordance with the Google+ naming requirements. Or not.
Well…so much for that.
Another look at the “Google+ Names Policy”, and I notice the following:
When you create your profile, our system will check the name you submitted for unusual characters. For example, numbers, symbols, and obscure punctuation are not supported.
Violation examples: John246 , ★★Shelley★★, J@SON W@T$ON, ‘Rachel Smith/
Incredible. So any nickname that includes a number (I.E. probably the vast majority of online handles) still aren’t excepted. So we see that by “nicknames”, Google is really just shooting for whatever cute name your friends or significant other uses to refer to you. This addition doesn’t cater at all to the privacy concerned online community, or those who operate under a handle.
In my opinion, this policy change is nothing more than further “Facebook-ification” of Google+, and completely misses the (valid) arguments of many members of the community.
Move along, nothing to see here, folks.
