TOPIC:

Hey guys,

Anybody else find it ridiculous that Google is forcing you to use your real name?
I think it's nobody's business on the net unless I decide otherwise myself.
All they have in mind is selling your user info to third parties in my opinion...
That's why I deactivated my Facebook account too. Using the names of people I know to try and sell me stuff.

After the news that Google basically opens their files to anyone interested, I decided to change my profile name to "Bees Wax".
Apparently this violates their policy so my account will now be suspended in five days...
I wouldn't care if my YouTube account weren't to disappear simultaneously.

Whatever happened to "do no evil"?
I'll refrain from any name calling towards them though...
But here's a symbolic, slightly different finger :

That's right edou, but if you only call your name and not your interests, it isn't interesting for them. They need this data for personalizing the ads to you and analyzing your personality regarding to what you're buying. Amazon and paypal is also selling this info. Back in the days, they were doing it with questioning the customer.
Also every little competition where you can win small and most only one price, is to get more potential customers (customer acquisition).
I've switched from facebook to G+ at beta but Google+ was like a desert. I'm now still at facebook but only with real friends, got no insterests, no profession and NO PHOTOS! They also steal and sell your photos without asking.

But if you're continuously using the same nickname, you're also leaving breadcrumbs in the web. For example i found your photo of your black top force in many r/c forums. If i want to found out more of you, i'll find your real name in some forum. Also i can pick out interests of it. Than i combine it with all known email adresses of you and i have a "product". There are many "bots" out there, which are doing this. Not for the CIA, only for the economy.
But if your mind is clear, i don't think it's a problem to get a personalized commercial on the screen. I know that in sweden it is a normal thing.

Cheers for the comments, funk.
I have nothing to hide from any agencies of course but it's about the principle.
What Google's doing here smells like totalitarianism... and I respond badly to that.

Besides all that, in a world where identity fraud is the fastest growing criminal branch, I sure don't want to start a public profile that has a lot of personal info in it. Not even just my full name, really...
I'm bothered enough by all the spam, phishing and fake phone calls I get 'cause some webshop was apparently hacked.

The shops aren't really hacked. They sold the data.
I'm using a plenty of email adresses with an id in every adress to find out where the spam comes from. They're all selling you're email addy.
Especially companys like google & facebook are only working with those kind of data. Some people still thinking that they're free & good and just want to help the humanity and bla...
I'm working in this business a long time at it has no principles.

Don't get me started...
Guess Google can't appreciate a bit of irony :



Beeswax

How is Google forcing you to use your real name? Surely you can just make an account in any name you like? They can't possibly have the resources to check IDs for example.

Martin wrote:

Surely you can just make an account in any name you like?

Apparently not, 'cause "Bees Wax" got rejected.
Of course they can't really force me to do anything but it is the message I got in the e-mail.
Their policy is that they can remove any account if they suspect a person is not using their actual name.
We'll see, I put in my YouTube name now and it has been "under investigation" since then. Oeh...

My page is still under investigation.

What I heard on the news is way beyond the proverbial pot and kettle thing...
Facebook and Google telling the NSA to stop collecting web information.