1. Why Names Matter:
How Online Identity is Defining the Future of the Internet
aestetix, SXSW

2. Do you... Google?

3. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou...”
Actual discussions on privacy issues
They listen to feedback! (gender privacy controls)
Better interface and usability than Facebook
It’s so pretty!

4. ... wait, wtf?

5. What *is* identity?

6. Does anyone know?

7. Defining “identity”
Identity is not the same thing as a name
Name: a label that is used to identify a person,
thing, or concept within a given context

8. Defining “identity”
Examples of context:
Within a set group (con-goers, coworkers, staff)
A particular location (Long Beach, Oakland, Berlin)
A specific time (“morning”, 9PM, “last week”)
An interest (“Joe likes baseball”)

9. Defining “identity”
Is identity internal or external?
Self image (“id, ego and superego”)
Reputation and the Citizen Kane style construct
“The only thing worse than being talked about is
not being talked about.” --Oscar Wilde

10. Defining “identity”
Conclusions about identity?
The meaning of “identity” is so complex that
neither Shakespeare nor Gandhi can define it.
Identity, by its very nature, is multifaceted. Since
identity is context dependent, no person has one
single identity.

11. Different types of names
Birth (certificate) name or given name
Legal name or “wallet” name (thanks, Skud)
Government issued ID (DL, Passport, SSN)
Student ID, Employee ID, Credit card
Account information (medical records, various
bills, etc)

12. Different types of names
Pseudonym (Nom de Plume) - a name that is not
found on any previously mentioned documents
May not be linkable to a document
Polynym - a name consisting of multiple words
Mononym - a name consisting of one word
Anonym - a name representing anonymity

13. Historical Nom de Plumes
Publius
Emperor Norton I
Nicholas Bourbaki
Richard Bachman,
Voltaire, Bronte Sisters, etc

14. Why do names matter?
Penn Jillette’s MLK twitter mishap

15. Why do names matter?
Penn Jillette’s MLK twitter mishap

16. Why do names matter?
WikiLeaks
Content versus source
Porn WikiLeaks
AOL and Netflix databases
Wikipedia “Essjay” controversy

17. What are social networks?
Examples of social networks:
book groups corporations
knitting circles events
unions courtrooms
a hobby or preference a cause
a village or town a family

18. What are social networks?
A “social network” is a force that brings people or
their personas together on a regular basis.
A “friend” is a person that you would choose to be
in contact with.
Social networks help solve namespace collisions

19. What are social networks?
Intrapersonal versus interpersonal communication
(Dr. Robin) Dunbar’s Number (1992)
Dr. Cameron Marlow’s Facebook study (2009)
HTTP://RICHARD-WILSON.BLOGSPOT.COM/2012/02/HEDGE-FUND-SOCIAL-NETWORKS.HTML

20. What are social networks?
Why do hacker handles
matter?
Joseph Campbell - right
hand and left hand path

21. Bringing Identity Online
Nissan.com
Whitehouse.com
Cybersquatting

22. Establishing Identity Online
HTTP Headers: referer, access times, URL
accessed, request sequence, frequency of access,
response headers
Using HTTP versus HTTPS
Are IP addresses enough? EFF says no.
How can a website confirm that you are you?

23. Social Effects on Privacy
What does transparency mean?
Is there such a thing as full transparency?
Who decides how transparent we get to be?
Active versus Passive communication of personal
information

24. Privacy-Promoting Tech
Using Tor
Selective logging
Privacy and sharing settings on websites
Remailers (Hail Eris)

25. Problems with Identity
Sockpuppets
“Anonymous Coward”
Cyber-stalking
DDoS attacks (Anonymous, etc)

26. Does Identity Matter?
Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman at Google:
“The only way to manage this is true transparency and no
anonymity. In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too
dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you. We
need a [verified] name service for people. Governments will
demand it.” (Techonomy, August 2010)
“If you have something that you don't want anyone to know,
maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."(CNBC
Interview, December 2009)

27. Does Identity Matter?
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO at Facebook:
“The days of you having a different image for your work
friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are
probably coming to an end pretty quickly. Having two
identities for yourself is an example of a lack of
integrity.” (Interview, October 2011)

28. Does Identity Matter?
Chris “moot” Poole, Founder of 4chan
“The portrait of identity online is often painted in
black and white. Who you are online is who you
are offline.
“Human identity doesn't work like that online or
offline. It's not 'who you share with,' it's 'who you
share as.’ Identity is prismatic.” (Web 2.0)

29. Online Social Networks
Facebook - synchronous friend requests
Twitter - asynchronous following (unless protected)
Blog platforms - asynchronous (RSS feeds)
Google Plus - asynchronous circles
Diaspora - asynchronous, decentralized

30. “Who Has Your Back” (EFF)
https://whohasyourback.eff.org

31. Facebook Policies
From Facebook’s “terms of service”
“real names” is not defined, seems case by case

32. Google Original “Real Names”
The original policy from Community Standards:
“13. Display Name:
To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the
name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you.
For example, if your full legal name is Charles Jones Jr.
but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, either
of those would be acceptable.

33. Law and Order
“[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision; now
let him enforce it!” --President Andrew Jackson
Both Facebook and Google Plus have a real
names policy
Let’s see how Google enforces theirs!

34. Appeal Process
July 23, 2011 - Filled out the appeal form
July 25, 2011 - “Neil” from the Google plus
support team contacts me to initiate process, I
reply
July 26, 2011 - “Neil” first tells me “Aestetix” is not
a “common name”, asks me to confirm it is my
common name, I reply confirming it is

35. Appeal Process
July 27, 2011 - I get an email saying they “need a
government issued ID to confirm my name is
‘Aesteix’.”
I reply to this to confirm they define a “common
name” exclusively as the name on a government
issued ID. I also ask what their policy for handling
government IDs is.

36. Appeal Process
July 28, 2011 - “Your common name does not
have to be the name on your ID. ... I need to get
the name off your ID to confirm that your name is
aestetix.”
My reply: “So if the name is the only thing you
need, can you use the information I provided in my
appeal to make the same judgement? I'm
confused as to why it must be a "government
issued ID.”

37. Appeal Process
“Thank you for contacting us with regard to the name
you want to use with your Google Profile. After further
review, we have determined that your name is within our
Community Standards policy. Thank you for your patience
while we reviewed your profile name. I will trust it is your
real name. Most users just try to explain that it is the
pseudonym that they have always used.”

38. Appeal Process
“Thank you for contacting us with regard to the name you
want to use with your Google Profile. After further review,
we have determined that your name is within our
Community Standards policy. Thank you for your
patience while we reviewed your profile name. I will trust it
is your real name. Most users just try to explain that it is
the pseudonym that they have always used.”

39. Appeal Process
“Thank you for contacting us with regard to the name you
want to use with your Google Profile. After further review,
we have determined that your name is within our
Community Standards policy. Thank you for your
patience while we reviewed your profile name. I will
trust it is your real name. Most users just try to explain
that it is the pseudonym that they have always used.”

40. This shit again?

41. I’m Not Alone!

42. I’m Not Alone!

43. Lessons learned
Google doesn’t know what a “common name” is
Google is demanding sensitive information without
any security procedures or policies in place
If you know someone at Google, you’ll be fine
Google doesn’t have a clue what “identity” means.

44. Closing Remarks
Steps in the right direction:
Wikitrust.net
Hypothes.is
Diaspora (RIP IlyaZ)

45. Closing Remarks
Explore decentralized systems
All current solutions fail in some way
There is no such thing as a “real name”
Join or support efforts like Diaspora, Hypothesis,
Wikitrust, etc

46. Questions?
@aestetix