Please enter your text to search.

Orwellian

Posted by nowhereman | Filed under blog | Mar 3, 2012 5 Comments »

I went to log into my Facebook account yesterday and was greeted by something new and different. My account had been disabled. Why? Because, according to them, my profile doesn’t list my real name.

First off, I disagree. The name I use on Facebook is “Nowhere Man” and that is the name that I have been known by to my close friends online and off for over a decade. For social purposes, it is my real name. Facebook is supposed to be a place about friends, right? So why can’t I use the name that my friends know me by?

Even worse, the way in which this happened is completely unacceptable. My account was shut down without warning and without giving me an opportunity to present my side of things or to take any action to avoid the shut down. There was no email saying “hey, you need to put your real name on your profile or it will be locked on xx/xx/xx.”

And there is no appeal process. Now that my account is disabled, the only path for me to take is to enter my full legal name, wait, and hope. There is no way for me to say “but this is my real name and here’s why I think you should let me use it on your service.”

Reading through their FAQ on allowed names, the very first suggestion on their “Things to keep in mind” list is this: “The name you use should be your real name as it would be listed on your credit card, student ID, etc.”. Maybe I’m just old and paranoid, but I find it disconcerting that an online service that makes this information public and that makes a good chunk of its money from advertising would ask me to format my name in the same way that it appears on financial documents. Perhaps this is because it makes my personal data more valuable when it gets sold to advertisers.

This policy is flawed in some very basic ways. I don’t go by my legal, financial document name and I know a lot of people in the same boat. My father goes by his middle name because he’s a Jr. The name that appears on his financial documents is different than the name he uses on Facebook, but his account has not been disabled. Even before I went by Nowhere Man I didn’t go by my full legal name as it appears on my financial documents. Never in my life have I gone by my full first name, except to my grandmother.

If Facebook really is about social and really is about friends and truly wants to mirror real life as closely as possible, they need to get a clue. In real life, there are many many people who are known in social settings by a name other than their legal, financial name. Imagine what might happen if a bar tried to force everyone who entered to use their full legal name when interacting with other patrons.

By and large, this is not a huge deal to me. I read somewhere recently that the average Facebook session lasts more than 30 minutes. Personally, I spend maybe 5 minutes a day on Facebook just to read any messages and maybe comment on some of my closer friends’ stuff. I’m more than happy to take my business to other services like Twitter or Google+.


 

5 Responses to “Orwellian”


 
  1. allen says:
    April 2, 2012 at 12:50 am

    They will use any trick in the book to shut down any media they want, if you dont totally submit to them.
    Bet you anything, some right wing nit wit didn’t like you providing Keith Olberman snips for free on your Roku channel. They then reported you to facebook. I would also say they did more than that to you. It’s just sickening how people are bowing to corporate greed and working for the corporations against their own self interests. Guess they were sick the day they taught about PROPAGANDA in school.

    Reply
  2. Janet says:
    March 22, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    I feel the real point here is the ‘financial’ angle to alluded to. Yes, you are more valuable when you have a real, legal financial name. All of us have become $ signs to Facebook and we believe otherwise, just look to the right column of your wall.

    Reply
  3. Familyguy says:
    March 20, 2012 at 2:56 am

    I agree with you that Facebook is only after selling your data. That’s why I’ve refused to sign up. But make no mistake about it…Google will do the same thing. They just won’t be so ham handed about getting it done.

    Social media sites are an interesting phenomenon. It’s amazing how LITTLE value people place on their privacy and potentially valuable (especially to criminals) personal data. Call me a Luddite….

    Reply
  4. Anthony says:
    March 16, 2012 at 10:46 am

    I know a lot of people who used their middle names on facebook and are now being told they have to change it. It’s only a matter of time before your Father faces the same stupid policy.

    It’s just another reason not to use facebook if you ask me.

    Reply
  5. TheNowhereMan.com » Blog Archive » Orwellian « Facebook Disabled My Account says:
    March 3, 2012 at 10:54 am

    [...] TheNowhereMan.com » Blog Archive » Orwellian Orwellian [...]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

CAPTCHA Image
*