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Facebook Can Keep Real Name Policy, German Court Rules

Posted by timothy on from the papers-bitte dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook can stick with its real name policy in Germany, and doesn't have to allow nicknames on its platform for now. The regulator that ordered Facebook to change its policy based its orders on inapplicable German law, a German court ruled."

9 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. But there are so many fake accounts. by bejiitas_wrath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are so many fake accounts on Facebook, how will the real name policy be enforced? You can name yourself anything you want and get away with it. That is what I have noticed anyway.

    --
    liberare massarum ex ignorantia, clausa descendit molestie.
    1. Re:But there are so many fake accounts. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      The reason Facebook wants your real name is because they want to market things to you and it makes it easier.

      If you give them a fake name, then they have to go through the trouble of finding your real name from anyone you communicate with. Use facebook on a cell phone? Do your friends? Then facebook already knows your real name.

      To them, you are confirmed as a real user by being cross referenced by your friend's contact books. Keep your silly alias.

    2. Re:But there are so many fake accounts. by Skapare · · Score: 4, Funny

      We just know you as that multiple personality androgynous masked commentator that keeps Slashdot so busy.

      --
      now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
    3. Re:But there are so many fake accounts. by antdude · · Score: 3, Informative

      I used a fake name and got caught after about three weeks. :(

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    4. Re:But there are so many fake accounts. by macbeth66 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Heh. No kidding. I have six accounts, all with real names. None of them mine.

  2. Define "real name" by Skapare · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Who here knows what my "human legal name" is? Everyone online knows me by either my Norwegian nickname (Skaperen) or my Swedish nickname (Skapare). There's no point in getting on Facebook at all unless I use these names. Well, OK, I do have a couple other nicknames.

    I don't think a law should force them to accept nicknames. This should happen when Mark quits being stupid.

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
    1. Re:Define "real name" by Grimbleton · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Who are you again?

  3. Re:A real-name policy is GOOD for privacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am autistic. I have a job, and some people at my workplace very quickly identified that I was autistic. But some apparently haven't.

    Online, I can anonymously post about issues in my life, things that I've done that I now understand would cause problems or confusion for other people, et cetera. With sites having "real name" policies, that is immediately lost. If I had to use my real name, there are so many things I could not disclose, because of the certainty of discrimination. If people knew some of the things which I've done they might think that I was a risk to myself, and with the last mass shooter supposedly being autistic, if people knew that I was autistic they might think that I was a risk to others. I am not; I am actually about the least violent person I've ever met.

    I don't use Facebook, but there is no way that real name policies are helpful. They are very harmful. I am not the only person who has such reasons to want to maintain anonymity. And even though I know that certain information can immediately be looked up(things like IP addresses or relative locations), the internet does grant some anonymity. It's not that I am a criminal; I haven't done anything wrong. It's that I am someone who has been victimized, and I don't want to be further victimized. Insisting that if I wish to maintain anonymity I should avoid social sites is similar to the way I was ostracized when I attempted socialization when I was younger.

  4. Re:A real-name policy is GOOD for privacy by pla · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Don't confuse lack of authentication with privacy, they ain't the same thing.

    The vast majority of people don't give a flying fuck about whether or not someone can "theoretically" ID them. I harbor no delusions that, with Slashdot's and my ISP's cooperation, a suitably-empowered government agency could easily ID me. I've certainly said enough about myself on here to confirm even a "close enough" guess.

    Most people just care that when their future employer googles their name, their postings on MyLittleFilly.xxx don't go to the top of the list.


    You want real online privacy? Don't use Facebook.

    All of the above aside - This!