Google Engineer's Informal Advice: To Avoid Pseudonymous Profile Suspension, Pick an Identity That'll "Look" Real

If you want to create a pseudonymous Google Profile account that's less likely to be suspended by the company, you should create an identity that'll "look" real. This informal, unofficial personal advice from Google Profiles engineer Andrew Bunner, who recently discussed questions related to "fake" profiles on his own Profile. "I know of quite a few real people that have changed their online identity for whatever reason," someone points on to him, "many of these are known more by their online name than their real name." What should they do, then? Bunner replies:

My personal advice (I'm not speaking about an official policy) is for those individuals to pick new identities that "look" real. We're not checking your driver's license ;-)

While this is not an official policy recommendation, it does provide some insight into how the company is handling its Profiles. (Facebook, by contrast, has reportedly asked users whose account has been suspended to provide a copy of a government-issued photo ID.) With Google Profiles, Bunning says, "The policy page leaves some room for interpretation... It doesn't say anything about your legal name." Then acknowledging the many point raised by people in his Profile thread (including many SLers): "[T]here are plenty of edge cases you all have pointed out that feel legitimate and not explicitly covered in the Terms of Service." All of which, again, suggests Google staff is still feeling out their policies around Profiles. (The policy seems mainly directed against fake Profile accounts created for fraudulent purposes.)

So what's this mean for, say, people who want a Google Profile named after their World of Warcraft character or SL avatar?

Personally, I think if your name seems real, and your Profile includes significant detail, you'll probably be OK. (After all, any number of hippie, RenFaire-loving parents legally named their children, say, "Sunflower Moonbright" and "Thorin Stormbringer" and such.) But if your avatar is named, oh, Opensource Obscure, however, you're likely still out of luck.

My post last week about Google suspending non-real profile names, by the way, has been featured on Techmeme, Slashdot, the San Francisco Chronicle, Business Insider, ReadWrite Web, and many other major media sites. That coverage was totally a surprise to me, but points, I think, to how big an issue this is: People are looking for a social media alternative to Facebook's real name-only convention, and hope Google will provide one.

Comments

[Shug Maitland]

or you could just take a look at http://dwellonit-comic.taterunino.net/archive/110

:)

[Cisop Sixpence]

I'll follow Google's policy which is to use a name that I am known by online. For me to pick another pseudonym would really be a fake name, as know one would know me.

One the other hand, nice to know they are not checking Drivers License. If they doubt my name, they can easily 'google' it and see that I do exists. ;)

[Paypabak Writer]

I wonder if I've survived Google purges because I use Google apps in regards to SL business in which I am involved? I make no bones about being virtual, but I'm going about actual business.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

I think it's poor policy to say, "this is the rule, but we're not going to enforce it".

Either allow it, or don't. I'd vote to allow.

[Adeon Writer]

One week and my G+ account is still around. Although, if reported, I most likely will not go so far as to prove that I go by the name.

[Ciaran Laval]

I won't be opening a google + profile whilst they have this ambiguous nonsense going on, they simply need to say pseudonyms are ok or not, the idea of spending time creating another profile and then having the plug pulled is absurd.

[Ananda]

In case it wasn't clear in the story, this man is an engineer at Googly but not an official policy maker. Among the things that *have* happened to fellow Second Lifers on the Google+ service include:

-Getting their G+ accounts suspendend and then being asked, yes, to provide photo ID and/or phone numbers to verify their identity.
-Not being reinstated under their chosen name no matter what info they provided.
-Having their long-standing Gmail accounts locked at the same time the G+ accounts were suspended.

This last one is why I and many others quit the service pre-emptively. As far as I'm concerned, I *am* Ananda, and my friends know me as that, so preserving my identity and my Gmail account was far more important to me than to play in another land of social-network Real People.

[Foxxe Wilder]

The thing with Facebook is unless the Identification they ask for is from the USA, there is very little to NO chance that any government office will share that information with non-legal offices (such as InterPol etc). I know for SURE that Canadian Authorities do not bother with US based online companies such as Facebook or SL. (I tested them both over the past 3 years and both came up wanting)

[Ann Otoole InSL]

Google+ banned William Shatner. The wrath of Kahn is coming.

[Danielle]

The William Shatner incident is an example of profile griefing. There is a "report this profile" button on the lower left side of the profile page, and apparently a lot of people thought it was a fake profile. The g+ software kicked that profile offline because it got a lot of reports. As it turns out, it actually did belong to a celebrity.

Google can fix this issue by doing two things: (1) provide a checkbox so the account owner can flag it as a pseudonym, and (2) provide a "verified account" status when the account owner has provided some real life ID. But the account owner's name does not have to be displayed if they choose a pseudonym.

Then people can happily choose whatever visible name they want for the account, and Google can do all the demographics and ad selling they need to cover expenses based on the verified identity of the account owner.

[Aeonix Aeon]

*shrugs* I choose what is behind door number 3. Instead of trying to get Google+ or Facebook to change, just use a social media network that doesn't make you beg for privacy or pretend to be somebody else that is "acceptable" to them. There's a reason I like diaspora, or at least everything it represents.

[Singularity Utopia]

Here's my blog-post about Google #plusgate

http://singularity-utopia.blogspot.com/2011/07/should-transhumans-be-purged_22.html

I'm glad some people are outraged by the G+ censorship, but mainly the outrage is limited to people who've directly suffered Google-censorship. To really make a difference this issue needs to be taken up by everyone. People should not underestimate the importance of this issue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came%E2%80%A6