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Facebook's Absurd Pseudonym Purgatory
An anonymous reader sends a story from a writer whose Facebook account was locked because somebody reported it as using a pseudonym. It doesn't, but Facebook demands a look at identification documents before releasing control over the account. Anyone whose name doesn't sound "real" to Facebook is at risk for this, and the social network doesn't even have a consistent stance on what an "authentic" name is. "Aside from the complexity of identity, the policy is haphazardly enforced at best. At worst, it’s dangerous and discriminatory, and has demonstrably and repeatedly been used to target people who often already are marginalized and vulnerable." Matt Cagle, attorney for the ACLU, says, "By controlling the identity of the speaker with this policy, Facebook has the effect of both reducing speech and eliminating speakers from the platform altogether. This is a particularly concerning move to the ACLU because forums like Facebook serve as the modern-day equivalent of the public square for a lot of communities.
I repeat, do not treat a private service as a public square. That's a horrible idea.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
"...forums like Facebook serve as the modern-day equivalent of the public square for a lot of communities."
Is there a way to identify these communities? Just trying to avoid areas of mass stupidity where Facebook somehow supplanted actual news outlets.
Those who feel Facebook is in the position of being a modern day times square have obviously never heard of a troll before.
Enjoy.
Yes. No one is forcing anyone to use Facebook, so don't! And as much as they would like to be a 'Public Square', or a utility, they are not. FB is Zuckerberg's joke on humanity.
You gave some random website a photocopy of your driver's license. I feel sorry for you.
Who the fuck cares about Facebook?
Facebook is a despicable company that doesn't have even a basic level of respect for its users. This has been readily apparent to anyone who has been willing to look for the better part of a decade. You want to be a part of that? Go right ahead. Just don't act all indignant when they arbitrarily lock your account or sell the data they have on you to corporations or the government.
Furthermore, likening Facebook to a public square is just silly. Public squares don't fight for your clicks by targeting you with advertisements. Public squares won't track every move you make on the Internet after you leave. And, most relevant of all, public squares are places where it's perfectly acceptable to remain anonymous through the use of any pseudonym you can dream up.
I say let Facebook do whatever they want. The more egregious the abuse, the more likely another clueless user will wake up and boycott that shit.
I can stand up in any public square the US and give my opinion of whatever topic I want to. I don't have to provide my name to do so.I don't have to show my papers. I don't have to get permission from overnight billioinaires. I can simply tell people what I am thinking, and call myself Silence Dogood.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
Clearly you haven't been modded into oblivion, but honestly, this is a dumb question. That's like asking, "Who the fuck cares about Google?"
Literally over a billion people care. And the advertisers care. And the shareholders care. There're a lot of people that care about Facebook.
Whether you like it or not, and whether you use it or not, to many people, Facebook is becoming all they know of the internet. For all intents and purposes, it IS the internet for a segment of the population. There are mobile providers that will sell you a plan that gives you virtually no data for free, but you DO get Facebook access for free. Facebook's Messenger chat service has something like 700 million users and is the single most popular chat application in the USA. We hear stories about the NYT doing a deal for instant loading articles and a share of ad revenue because Facebook is also becoming the place where most people read their news.
So yeah, LOTS of people care. YOU should care, even if you don't use it, because it's becoming the sort of behemoth that warps space around it. I hardly use Google's services at all anymore, but I definitely care about what Google is doing in the world. Most people with PCs and Android phones care about Apple and the influence it brings to hardware and mobile—even if they purport to hate every single change Apple brings to hardware or mobile. People that don't live in the USA definitely care what the USA is up to. There are plenty of reasons to care about Facebook and even weird things like this because they really do serve to show us the state of the internet today and give us hints to the future, or at the very least, what we DON'T want the future to look like.
People have been threatening to abandon Facebook for various minor transgressions every year that it's been around, and it keeps getting bigger. It's not going anywhere for a while.
This is a serious issue for many Native Americans and has been repeatedly "Facebooked" about over and over with little to no effect. Because many Native Americans do not have European names they get their accounts locked out. This is easily exploited by those who actively engage in harming Native Americans and others they do not like because of race.
leather-dog muksihs
Blog: @muksihs
Mark pseudonym accounts as such. Put the name in a different color of whatever you need to do. That way people who want to use it anonymously don't inconvenience those who want to know who people are.
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