Are 'Real Names' Policies an Abuse of Power? 318
telekon writes "Microsoft researcher Danah Boyd argues in this article that 'The people who most heavily rely on pseudonyms in online spaces are those who are most marginalized by systems of power.' This comes in the wake of criticism aimed at Facebook and Google for their stance on anonymity and pseudonymity. A related article from the Atlantic discusses how revolutionary the real name requirement really is."
Re:It's only an abuse if you have something to hid (Score:2, Informative)
You know, "George Orwell" and "Mark Twain" weren't their real names, right?
Re:It's only an abuse if you have something to hid (Score:5, Informative)
Two quick examples of U.S. law the link anonymous speech directly to the Constitution Right to Free Speech that I found are "Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60 (1960), the Court struck down a Los Angeles city ordinance that made it a crime to distribute anonymous pamphlets. In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334 (1995), the Court struck down an Ohio statute that made it a crime to distribute anonymous campaign literature."
If you half an open mind, you might also want to check out the EFF site and try to look at it from another point of view. https://www.eff.org/issues/anonymity [eff.org]
Anonymity/pseudonimity is not purely for Trolls and F**wads.
Re:Easy solution (Score:2, Informative)
based on the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel
Love it when people link a wikipedia article which disproves their own point, shooting themselves in the foot.
What I chose to call "Western style" forums eg: vBulletin and PHPbb, are pretty distinct from imageboard software of Japanese lineage.
4chan is one example yes, but "The chans" are as numerous and distinct as web forums are.