I'm not alone

When you publicly engage yourself in a battle against one of the most powerful IT related companies in the world, it can be a little frightening. But when you find support online, people saying that your struggle is meaningful, you start to feel a whole lot better.

In fact, there is more here than Google+ policy concerning privacy. Google and Facebook, in the middle of the war there fighting for the control of the time we spend online, have agreed on one thing: anonymity on the Internet must come to an end.

There are so many reasons to disagree on this statement that I won't be able to deal with them all on this blog but I can let you know that this topic is known as #nymwars or #plusgate on twitter. Looking for these hashtags you will find a lot of clever articles explaining why a pseudonym is a real identity. You will learn that even a few Googlers have quit their jobs over this topic! And you will be able to add your personal profile suspension story to the database created by Skud. I wish there were more content for French people though. I guess it's up to me to bring some more. So, stay tuned.

I wish you all and your digital selves a good day.

"Don't be evil", they said...

It's been one day since my Google+ account was taken away from me. More exactly, I'm still able to log onto Google+ and see the posts from everyone in my circles, but I can't interact with anyone. I have been totally muzzled. And it's not just on Google+. I can't post nor comment anything on Google Buzz and Google Reader.
While the connection between Buzz and a Google profile seems quite obvious, there is absolutely no link between someone's Reader account and his Google+.

I even got a nearly subliminal message that flashes on the screen when I try to post something on Buzz. It says : "What information are you willing to share with other users?"
I guess that it might be referring to the fact that I don't want to make my name publicly available, but I won't change my mind on that and I don't think I'm breaking any law by being pseudonymous on the Internet.

My struggle to remain pseudonymous on Google+, act 1

Here is a copy of the mail I have received today from the Google Profiles team after my profile was blocked without warning.

"Hi,
Thank you for contacting us with regard to our review of the name you are
trying to use in your Google Profile. After review of your appeal, we have
determined that the name you want to use violates our Community Standards.
You can review our name guidelines at
http://www.google.com/support/+/bin/answer.py?answer=1228271

If you edit your name to comply with our policies in the future, please
respond to this email so that we can re-review your profile.

Sincerely,
Duyen
The Google Profiles Support Team"

And here is the answer, I've just sent to them.

"Dear Duyen,

First of all, let me introduce myself. I am XXX  XXX  XXX. This is my full name as it appears on my Google+ profile, but in the "other names" field not what you call the "profile name" field.
In my Google+ circles I have both people that know me by my real name and others that only identify me as the pseudonym I have been using across the internet for the last five years.
That pseudonym is connected to a vast social graph, which can be easily verified given the links I have included on my Google profile.
My current settings allow everyone to see my pseudonym, but only the ones I have included in a few circles will be able to see my real name.

I believe this is the very purpose of Google+ : allow people to fine tune the information they want to share on the internet. My real name is personal information. I have no problem to make it available on my profile, but not publicly.
I do not understand why it is allowed to have a pseudonymous Identity on Youtube but not on Google+. Is there only a particular reason to that or is it just an arbitrary decision?

Sincerely,

XXX  XXX  XXX best known as Oldkid."

What do you think? Should I give up or defend the right to be pseudonymous on any internet service?