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Facebook Ordered To End Its Real Name Policy In Germany

Posted by Unknown on from the semi-anonymous-cowards dept.

An anonymous reader writes with a blow to Facebook's policy banning accounts under pseudonyms. From the article: "A German privacy regulator ordered Facebook to stop enforcing its real name policy because it violates a German law that gives users the right to use nicknames online. 'We believe the orders are without merit, a waste of German taxpayers' money and we will fight it vigorously,' a Facebook spokeswoman said in an emailed statement."

3 of 471 comments (clear)

  1. Re:typical by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    if its such a wast of time and money then why are you going to wast more time and money fighting it,

    It's a waste of *taxpayer* money. For facebook, though, it isn't a waste because it means their ads are worth less because of the German law, so spending money to ensure that they have high-quality data to sell advertisers is worth it. Remember, it's good for their customers if everyone can lead to a real person.

    Of course, how long until Google's G+ falls under the same restrictions? After all, G+ linking your name is getting more insidious across Google sites now, like say, replying to a YouTube comment now uses your real name.

  2. Re:typical by camperdave · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It is this very policy which stops me from using Facebook. If I can't log in with an alias, I won't log in at all. Plus, until you log in, you can't see what Facebook is all about, so I don't even know if Facebook is worth connecting to in the first place.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  3. Re:typical by wvmarle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm curious (really) if German ecommerce sites have to accept nicknames along with credit card numbers (and deal with chargebacks if there's fraud).

    No need.

    There is no need to even have a login at a site to be able to pay with your credit card. Or you could log in using your (real) name, and use the credit card of another person.

    Those things are no problem for web sites, if only because the name as written on my credit card does not match the name that I normally use (my middle name is included, and the order is different).