The problem with Google+ requiring a real name

According to MSNBC.com, in a recent move, the rapidly emerging social network site, Google+, dumped individuals who violate their policy and don't use their "real," that is their legal names. Granted, technically Google gets to choose its policy and it is well within its rights to delete accounts (although Google will likely pay a price for people's frustration); however there are issues for users who use different online names to create a sense of online privacy, to promote themselves (particularly if they have a common name), or to separate their different spheres of life by having multiple accounts.

True, part of the payment for using the "free" site is the data-mining and targeted ad content that Google gains from knowing who we are. But a lot of that can be done without knowing someone's name. Besides names aren't unique identifiers like social security numbers or email addresses, so confidence that you have the right person is limited. Plus there are other complications. Here's an example. My name is relatively unique (read: hard for a lot of people to spell or pronounce). I have a professional name, a married name, and a legal name. Furthermore, because a lot of the late 1990s government databases that have my married name couldn't handle spaces, my last name ends up being a 16-letter mash-up of three words in many of them, sometimes cut off because a developer assumed no one's name would ever be longer than 8, 9, or 10 characters. (Mine is 18 with spaces). So which of my "legal" names would count as official under Google's policy? And can it handle spaces? (I haven't checked yet, although I have a Google+ account and appreciate using a lot of their tools).

I would argue that managing your online identity and reputation by strategically providing or altering one's name or associated information is not necessarily deception or fraud, even if it run's afoul of Google's policy. If you decide to keep your legal name on Google+, or any other social networking site, be aware of how it might be used by current or future employers, partners, friends, or roommates. And also consider the tradeoffs -- of having different profiles, different names, or managing multiple identities. There isn't a perfect solution.