Rushdie Runs Afoul of Web’s Real-Name Police

[groovedaddy]

SAN FRANCISCO — The writer Salman Rushdie hit Twitter on Monday morning with a flurry of exasperated posts. Facebook, he wrote, had deactivated his account, demanded proof of identity and then turned him into Ahmed Rushdie, which is how he is identified on his passport. He had never used his first name, Ahmed, he pointed out; the world knows him as Salman.

Would Facebook, he scoffed, have turned J. Edgar Hoover into John Hoover?

“Where are you hiding, Mark?” he demanded of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, in one post. “Come out here and give me back my name!”

The Twitterverse took up his cause. Within two hours, Mr. Rushdie gleefully declared victory: “Facebook has buckled! I’m Salman Rushdie again. I feel SO much better. An identity crisis at my age is no fun.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/technology/hiding-or-using-your-name-online-and-who-decides.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

[Posteritatis]

1. Pretty sure Facebook isn't the entire Web. (nt)

[Angry Dragon]

2. to some it is the whole universe

[Book Lover]

3. Pretty sure Facebook is where many, many authors do outreach to their readers (nm)

[Tunkamerica]

4. pretty sure you missed the point

[Book Lover]

5. I'm perfectly willing to admit when I'm wrong - so educate me

The point is what exactly? Thanks in advance.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Make7]

8. I wonder what was in that deleted message? ( n/t )

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Damn, so you can!

I could have sworn I tried this and failed a long time ago.

[Mazdak]

7. Facebook is getting so bureaucratic it's ridiculous

My cousin's uses his middle name too. His middle name is Joseph, but he goes by "Joe" for short, because my uncle's first name is the same as his. Their legal first names are both "Daniel". Facebook forced him to send a copy of his driver's license and he had to temporarily change his name to "Dan J. -----"

I don't understand why Facebook is so uptight about things. No doubt this gives certain people a loophole to get those they don't like deleted from facebook, and I wouldn't be surprised if Rushdies self-proclaimed enemies were behind this.