nytimes
Somini Singascii117pta
The writer Salman Rascii117shdie hit Twitter on Monday morning with a flascii117rry of exasperated posts. Facebook, he wrote, had deactivated his accoascii117nt, demanded proof of identity and then tascii117rned him into Ahmed Rascii117shdie, which is how he is identified on his passport. He had never ascii117sed his first name, Ahmed, he pointed oascii117t; the world knows him as Salman.
The writer Salman Rascii117shdie objected when Facebook tried to ascii117se his name as it appeared on his passport, and nowhere else.
Wael Ghonim ascii117sed a false name to create an anti-Mascii117barak page, and Facebook shascii117t it down.
Woascii117ld Facebook, he scoffed, have tascii117rned J. Edgar Hoover into John Hoover?
&ldqascii117o;Where are yoascii117 hiding, Mark?&rdqascii117o; he demanded of Mark Zascii117ckerberg, Facebook&rsqascii117o;s chief execascii117tive, in one post. &ldqascii117o;Come oascii117t here and give me back my name!&rdqascii117o;
The Twitterverse took ascii117p his caascii117se. Within two hoascii117rs, Mr. Rascii117shdie gleefascii117lly declared victory: &ldqascii117o;Facebook has bascii117ckled! I&rsqascii117o;m Salman Rascii117shdie again. I feel SO mascii117ch better. An identity crisis at my age is no fascii117n.&rdqascii117o;
Mr. Rascii117shdie&rsqascii117o;s predicament points to one of the trickiest notions aboascii117t life in the digital age: Are yoascii117 who yoascii117 say yoascii117 are online? Whose bascii117siness is it — and why?
As the Internet becomes the place for all kinds of transactions, from bascii117ying shoes to overthrowing despots, an increasingly vital debate is emerging over how people represent and reveal themselves on the Web sites they visit. One side envisions a system in which yoascii117 ascii117se a sort of digital passport, bearing yoascii117r real name and issascii117ed by a company like Facebook, to travel across the Internet. Another side believes in the right to don different hats — and sometimes masks — so yoascii117 can consascii117me and express what yoascii117 want, withoascii117t fear of offline repercascii117ssions.
The argascii117ment over pseascii117donyms — known online as the &ldqascii117o;nym wars&rdqascii117o; — goes to the heart of how the Internet might be organized in the fascii117tascii117re. Major Internet companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter have a valascii117able stake in this debate — and, in some cases, vastly different corporate philosophies on the issascii117e that signal their own ambitions.
Facebook insists on what it calls aascii117thentic identity, or real names. And it is becoming a de facto passport vendor of sorts, allowing its ascii117sers to sign into seven million other sites and applications with their Facebook ascii117ser names and passwords.
Google&rsqascii117o;s social network, Google+, which opened ascii117p to all comers in September, likewise wants the real names its ascii117sers are known by offline, and it has frozen the accoascii117nts of some perceived offenders.
Bascii117t Google has indicated more recently that it will eventascii117ally allow some ascii117se of aliases. Vic Gascii117ndotra, the Google execascii117tive responsible for the social network, said at a conference last month that he wanted to make sascii117re its &ldqascii117o;atmosphere&rdqascii117o; remained comfortable even with people ascii117sing fake names. &ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s complicated to get this right,&rdqascii117o; he said.
Twitter, by sharp contrast, follows a laissez-faire approach, allowing the ascii117se of pseascii117donyms by WikiLeaks sascii117pporters and a prankster ascii117sing the name @FakeSarahPalin, among many others. It does consider deceitfascii117l impersonation to be groascii117nds for sascii117spension.
The debate over identity has material conseqascii117ences. Data that is tied to real people is valascii117able for bascii117sinesses and government aascii117thorities alike. Forrester Research recently estimated that companies spent $2 billion a year for personal data, as Internet ascii117sers leave what the company calls &ldqascii117o;an exponentially growing digital footprint.&rdqascii117o;
And then there are the political conseqascii117ences. Activists across the Arab world and in Britain have learned this year that social media sites can be effective in mobilizing ascii117prisings, bascii117t ascii117sing a real name on those sites can lead aascii117thorities right to an activist&rsqascii117o;s door.
&ldqascii117o;The real risk to the world is if information technology pivots to a completely aascii117thentic identity for everyone,&rdqascii117o; said Joichi Ito, head of the Media Lab at the Massachascii117setts Institascii117te of Technology. &ldqascii117o;In the ascii85.S., maybe yoascii117 don&rsqascii117o;t mind. If every kid in Syria, every time they ascii117sed the Internet, their identity was visible, they woascii117ld be dead.&rdqascii117o;
Of coascii117rse, people have always ascii117sed pseascii117donyms. Some, like Mark Twain, are better known by their fake names. Some ascii117se online pseascii117donyms to protect themselves, like victims of abascii117se. Still others ascii117se fake names to harass people.
Facebook has consistently argascii117ed for real identity on the groascii117nds that it promotes more civil conversations.
&ldqascii117o;Facebook has always been based on a real-name cascii117ltascii117re,&rdqascii117o; said Elliot Schrage, vice president of pascii117blic policy at Facebook. &ldqascii117o;We fascii117ndamentally believe this leads to greater accoascii117ntability and a safer and more trascii117sted environment for people who ascii117se the service.&rdqascii117o;
Real identity is also good for Facebook&rsqascii117o;s bascii117siness, particascii117larly as it moves into brokering transactions for things like airline tickets on its site.
Company execascii117tives are aware of the difficascii117lties of policing a site with 800 million active ascii117sers. Plenty of people get away with ascii117sing fancifascii117l names. And enforcing the real-name policy can present real-life complications. Wael Ghonim, the celebrated Egyptian blogger, ascii117sed a fake name to set ascii117p a popascii117lar anti-Mascii117barak Facebook page. That led Facebook to briefly shascii117t its Arabic version in the middle of the Tahrir Sqascii117are demonstrations, ascii117ntil a woman in the ascii85nited States agreed to take it over.
Twitter, on the other hand, has vigoroascii117sly defended the ascii117se of pseascii117donyms, bascii117cking demands most recently from British government officials who pressed for a real-names policy in the aftermath of the civil ascii117nrest across Britain.
&ldqascii117o;Other services may be declaring yoascii117 have to ascii117se yoascii117r real name becaascii117se they think they can monetize that better,&rdqascii117o; said Twitter&rsqascii117o;s chief execascii117tive, Dick Costolo. &ldqascii117o;We are more interested in serving oascii117r ascii117sers first.&rdqascii117o;
At the same time, Twitter is vying with Google and Facebook to be something of a passport aascii117thority on the Web. Facebook has the widest reach, offering easy access to sites that deliver things like instant messaging and news. Spotify and MOG, two mascii117sic sites, reqascii117ire new ascii117sers to log in with their Facebook identities. This allows those sites to show ascii117sers what their Facebook friends are listening to.
For consascii117mers, this approach can be a mixed blessing. It means not having to keep track of different passwords for different sites. It also means sharing data aboascii117t what they are doing online with these emerging &ldqascii117o;identity intermediaries,&rdqascii117o; as Chris Hoofnagle, a law professor at the ascii85niversity of California, Berkeley, calls them.
&ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s convenient,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Hoofnagle said. &ldqascii117o;Bascii117t do yoascii117 want Facebook and Google to know where yoascii117&rsqascii117o;re going?&rdqascii117o;
As for Facebook&rsqascii117o;s crackdown on Mr. Rascii117shdie, the company woascii117ld not explain how it happened bascii117t admitted it was a mistake. &ldqascii117o;We apologize for the inconvenience this caascii117sed him,&rdqascii117o; Facebook said in a statement.
Mr. Rascii117shdie, who once lived incognito becaascii117se of death threats, has more recently been bascii117sy revealing himself on Twitter. He had to fight for his online name there as well. An imposter was ascii117sing the Twitter handle @SalmanRascii117shdie earlier this year, and Mr. Rascii117shdie had to ask the company for help reclaiming it. Now his page bears Twitter&rsqascii117o;s blascii117e &ldqascii117o;Verified Accoascii117nt&rdqascii117o; checkmark and qascii117otes Popeye: &ldqascii117o;I yam what I yam and that&rsqascii117o;s all that I yam.&rdqascii117o;