Personal Privacy vs. Basic Internet Services: Google’s Real Name Policy in the Real World

Friday, August 26, 2011

Transparency. It’s the buzz-word for businesses trying to market themselves on the Internet. A lack of transparency can mean a lightning death for a Brand on Social Media.

But what about individuals or individuals who are their business? Transparency is great for a corporation, but downright scary when it gets up-close and personal. The proponents of “real identity” policies ask the question, “Aren’t you legitimate? What are you trying to hide?”

Well, “hide” isn’t the word. “Protect” is what most people are interested in. For me, I want to protect my little girl. I want to protect me from cyber stalkers. I want to separate my pen name from my real one so kids don’t get hold of the wrong stories I’ve written. I have a lot to protect that has nothing to do with blackmail material. I’m sure other people do too. Like personal information from potential employers? And what about women who are running from abusive spouses or boyfriends? Should they be excluded by default from basic Internet services?

CANSPAM compliance is bad enough for an individual who wants to keep in touch with their clients or fans via email because it requires a valid mailing address—thank you Congress.

Enter Google’s “real name” policy.

Google has managed to infiltrate itself into the very fabric of Internet being. First was search results, then email addresses. Through purchases or development, they now control video (YouTube), Blogging (Blogger/Blogspot), photo sharing (Picasa), News feeds/favorite sites (Reader), Document storage/backups and sharing (Google Docs), Advertising (AdWords), droid mobile calendar (Google calendar) and now a Social Networking platform (Google+).

All of these features require you to use a valid name or you will be locked out. If you’ve built your business using Google products, you can find yourself, on a whim, blocked from not only your advertising, but your own documents and photos with no warning, as Violet Blue (BTW, that is her real name) discovered. Her blog post is worth a read. Losing Gmail, Google groups, and docs access overnight would be devastating to her as a business.

In the case of most Internet services, you have the option of not using them and going with a competitor if you don’t like their policies, but Google has infiltrated everything and established themselves as “infrastructure.” You can’t function as a business on the Internet without touching them in some manner.

Not to mention that they are using every scrap of information you put into their systems any way they can think of – and attached to your real name.

I’m lucky in that my husband/business partner is both tech and security-savvy and we have ways to back up our files, navigate and use the Internet, and recover from problems without relying on Google. Many individuals are not so fortunate.

The “real name” dilemma is not our problem. It’s Google’s. There are competitors in all aspects of their services save AdWords. The lesson here is not to put all your eggs in one basket. Be redundant.

Oh, and Violet Blue, you rock!