Re:Facebook Users Must Be Allowed To Use Pseudonyms, Says Ge...
by GHFigs on Tuesday December 18, 2012 @08:19PM
(#4940699)
your legal name is important because it enables the relationship between you and the complex society you inhabit
While I agree with this statement, it also occurs to me that society may be becoming sufficiently complex to warrant a level of flexibility in naming that we don't have. A legal name may be important for interfacing with some things, but it does not follow that all things must interface with your legal name. Facebook and Google seem to think it should, but mostly because they're advertising companies, not because it's a requirement of the services they provide, or a requirement for all the kinds of human relationships they're offering to mediate.
This mechanical imposition of a single identity where it has not previously been mandatory is what gets people calling it "severely retarded", etc.
While I agree with this statement, it also occurs to me that society may be becoming sufficiently complex to warrant a level of flexibility in naming that we don't have. A legal name may be important for interfacing with some things, but it does not follow that all things must interface with your legal name. Facebook and Google seem to think it should, but mostly because they're advertising companies, not because it's a requirement of the services they provide, or a requirement for all the kinds of human relationships they're offering to mediate.
This mechanical imposition of a single identity where it has not previously been mandatory is what gets people calling it "severely retarded", etc.