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Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

paulbernal.wordpress.com

21–30 of 164 posts

Re: Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

#21
Enforcing real names has pros and cons. For Facebook as a business, the pros certainly outweigh the value lost when accounts can't be mapped directly to real people. Names are a key part of that mapping.

In general, I prefer an option for pseudonymity, because it is much more inclusive (allowing certain people at the fringes to feel more comfortable joining in -- victims of abuse, political dissidents, etc), and is much less messy than total anonymity (which wouldn't really work for something like Facebook, not that there isn't a place for it elsewhere on the web). That said, pseudonymity can still get messy, so I see why Facebook might want to keep it in check.

One can also make the argument that the level of discourse is much higher on services where people are more personally accountable for what they say, and where confusing or offensive usernames don't get in the way of conversations. But I would say that the actual level of discourse sometimes found on Facebook throws that argument into question.

Re: Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

#22
post #11

FTA: Indeed, under the terms of the Snoopers Charter, it wouldn’t just be Facebook who could access this kind of information: the authorities could potentially set up a filter to gather data on people who don’t confirm the names of their friends Yes, and I could potentially sprout wings from my ass and become a travel carrier. The rest of this article is nothing more than a ton of thinly veiled fallacies, slippery sl…

What is a "real" name vs. one that is not "real"? Did you mean legal name? And if so does that exclude legal aliases? What about Madonna, is that her 'real' name?

Um, yeah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_Louise_Ciccone

Re: Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

#25
post #18

The only problem with forcing real names that I've recently encountered are family members who work in prisons. They use a modified name as to make it difficult for an inmate to gain knowledge of them and where they live. Personal and family protection in a way with the ability to still use Facebook to connect with distant friends and family members. Anyone else run into this instance?

That's a good example, but there are countless reasons why people cannot safely use their legal names in places like Facebook. They can elect not to participate, and Facebook can elect to prohibit them. Neither party really suffers any material damage, but it does frustrate some decent people.

I'd argue that people do suffer material damage by being blocked from using Facebook.

Re: Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

#26

The only problem with forcing real names that I've recently encountered are family members who work in prisons. They use a modified name as to make it difficult for an inmate to gain knowledge of them and where they live. Personal and family protection in a way with the ability to still use Facebook to connect with distant friends and family members. Anyone else run into this instance?

It seems like it would be more sensible for them to use modified names inside the prison. Of course, they probably don't get to choose what name to use in the prison.

I think that both guards and inmates should be assigned fake names in prison, or addressed simply by number, to avoid prison interactions spilling out of the prison and affecting prisoners' families etc. Of course, the danger with this is that abuses within prison would become harder to track and account for.

Re: Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

#27
post #12
post #4

If the responses are actually anonymous (as they claim, but I don't believe it's actually anonymous in their database), it would be easy to generate enough false positives to spoil the system.

There is a 0% chance that Facebook does not record your response to every request.

If it turns out it isn't anonymous and they are shutting down accounts over it, can there be any repercussions for them lying like that or is it just "unethical"?

Re: Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

#28

FTA: Indeed, under the terms of the Snoopers Charter, it wouldn’t just be Facebook who could access this kind of information: the authorities could potentially set up a filter to gather data on people who don’t confirm the names of their friends Yes, and I could potentially sprout wings from my ass and become a travel carrier. The rest of this article is nothing more than a ton of thinly veiled fallacies, slippery sl…

"The rest of this article is nothing more than a ton of thinly veiled fallacies, slippery slope and appeal to emotion the least of the two."

I agree, and it's a pity that's the route chosen, because the point about what kind of atmosphere it creates is enough to carry the argument. It isn't hard to emotionally read that dialog as "Please select who you are more loyal to: A. Facebook B. Your friend C. I just can't decide! D. Why are you asking‽"

I can't imagine that in the longterm this is a gain for Facebook, even if they somehow squeeze a short-term bounce out of this.

(Though I can't help but feel that both the advertisers and Facebook may be overestimating the value of "really" reaching the real "people" they think they are. So very, very much behaviour information leaks into every minute of interaction with Facebook regardless of whether you are in your "real" account or not that I bet the ad algorithms still mostly work even on the "fake" accounts.)

Re: Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

#29
post #8

FTA: Indeed, under the terms of the Snoopers Charter, it wouldn’t just be Facebook who could access this kind of information: the authorities could potentially set up a filter to gather data on people who don’t confirm the names of their friends Yes, and I could potentially sprout wings from my ass and become a travel carrier. The rest of this article is nothing more than a ton of thinly veiled fallacies, slippery sl…

Agree with your larger point, but your tone is a bit argumentative. Also, civil disobedience doesn't mean what you think it means: much like civil disobedience, you have no right to complain once you are found to be breaking the law/policy and are punished for it Civil disobedience is all about breaking the law in order to maintain the right to complain. "Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place fo…

It's argumentative because poorly constructed appeals to emotion usually have the opposite effect on me.

Anyways, by the comment about civil disobedience, I meant that, if you willfully break a law you feel to be unjust, what comes with that is a reasonable expectation of the punishment for breaking that law to be meted out.

I see it kind of like a button that says "By clicking okay, you will be punched in the face". The people that click okay don't have any reason to complain, they were warned.

Replace "punched in the face" with any possibly negative thing. If you are told that X will happen if you do Y, and you do Y, and X happens, don't complain.

Re: Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name

#30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like it would be more sensible for them to use modified names inside the prison. Of course, they probably don't get to choose what name to use in the prison.

I think that both guards and inmates should be assigned fake names in prison, or addressed simply by number, to avoid prison interactions spilling out of the prison and affecting prisoners' families etc. Of course, the danger with this is that abuses within prison would become harder to track and account for.

I going to guess that referring to inmates by numbers would be widely criticized as inhumane by many human rights groups. It would be an uphill battle to keep something like that going.
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