Google services should not require real names: Vint Cerf | Reuters: "In the face of increasing government-led crackdowns on social media, Google Inc (GOOG.O) should not force Internet users to reveal their real names for some services, including its Google+ social network, said Vint Cerf, a senior Google executive known as a "father of the Internet."
In an interview with Reuters, Cerf acknowledged that the search giant's sweeping push in the past 18 months to institute real-name authentication for Google+ and other services has sparked intense debate within its Mountain View, California, headquarters. But he argued that current name policy, which allows for some users to display pseudonyms, offers adequate "choice" in how users choose to represent themselves.
Over the past year, the company has strongly encouraged users to merge their accounts on YouTube, Gmail and other Google properties into a single Google+ identity, the company's social network offering that asks users to use the "common name" they are known by in the real world.
"Using real names is useful," Cerf said. "But I don't think it should be forced on people, and I don't think we do.""
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