Google = Censorship

So last night I received an email from Google+ stating that my name violated company policy and that if I didn’t change it or appeal it within 4 days my profile would be suspended. I read other blog articles in the past when G+ first came into public limelight about this sort of thing and how it was a complete PR disaster for Google because they disabled profiles of people like William Shattner, etc without warning. Apparently the founder of G+ claimed on his plus page that they had “learned their lesson” and blah blah blah and I thought that silly practice was done and over with. Boy I could have never been so wrong it seems. Here is a copy of the letter I received in my mailbox last night around 3PM my time (Eastern).

So now I highlight the red areas for you purposely because notice how it states clearly I have 4 days to remedy the situation before I am suspended. 4 days from the 6th would be the 10th correct? Wrong, its the 7th according to Google and heres why…

Last night in a rage of annoyance from this I posted on my G+ wall for friends to see so they would be aware of what was going on. Some friends only know me on G+, they don’t visit here or my twitter because they were people I met on G+ on various threads and posts from celebrities and whatnot such as Wil Wheaton. At any rate, this is a copy word for word what I posted last night:

I know I’ve already posted on this but I am still steamed about it. So I am going to make everyone aware of some things before I am turned off should the appeal process on names for Google+ not work. There is an annoying popup every time I log in now saying my name is fake and so heres my rant…

I am Cherokee, and a little known fact is that we do not use the same names as everyone else. Running Bear, Moon Brook, Shadow Wolf, all names that are NORMAL in Native American tradition where we are named after stories, lore, nature, and so on. It seems however that Google would rather label me as a phoney because of this instead of accepting that names are not always “standard” like Jim Brown, or Tim Smith. Those are EUROPEAN names, those people who came over many moons ago to the Americas and basically all but wiped my ancestors off the globe and shoved what remained into internment camps known as reservations.

Now, I am not bitter nor prejudice against other races or ethnicity. One can not be held accountable for what one’s ancestors did. Condemning someone for such things would be insanity as they didn’t even exist when those events took place so they would have had no way to influence them one way or another.

At any rate, I am extremely upset and annoyed with this latest turn of events. I have stuck by Google through many things and when G+ came about I was overjoyed to finally be able to use a social service that wasn’t a treasure trove of privacy violations and identity theft loopholes like Facebook. Unfortunately this little gem delivered to me today has made me seriously reconsider my position on Google.

I am told by the automated system here that if my appeal is not approved or I do not change my name by the 10th of January, that my account will be suspended. Of all things on the appeal process to “verify” myself, I was asked for a Facebook profile link or a LinkedIN profile link which was just ridiculous. In addition I was offered to provide a Photo ID of myself to prove my identity.

Dear Google;
I am not providing you with a Photo ID of myself. You are not a legal binding document, nor a government entity, nor am I purchasing anything through you. To have the audacity to ask me for such a thing simply because I violate your standard naming system which is based on a bias standard to begin with is offensive and puts you in league no better than the likes of Facebook and its countless violations of personal privacy. I am not pretending to be a celebrity or someone I am not, I am not hosting a group page on this profile, I am me. The same person under this name that my tribe knows me by, my friends and my family. When people search for me, this is the name they use. To have to “prove” anything to you is downright offensive. I have done nothing wrong except exist apparently and for that I am being harassed and annoyed.

To my friends;

If after Jan 10th you no longer see me as part of your circles or posting, you’ll know why. Quite honestly I am reconsidering even staying on here even if the appeals process uncovers that I *gasp* really am me. A company that is going to go through this much trouble and annoyance over something this trivial just puts me in a bad mood and makes me question my faith in it. I have a Photo ID which will resolve this easily, but I am not going to use it because I shouldn’t have to.

The day we have to prove who we are online is a sad day indeed.

Shadowwolf

I wake up this morning to find that my profile no longer functions and that I can’t even post on other people’s walls or pictures to let them know I am okay and that I didn’t actually leave voluntarily. So heres the thing, clearly this was done in an attempt to censor me, and while that may seem a paranoid statement to make, I can think of no other possibility because my post last night was actually done on the 7th (today) as you can see here:

So clearly my account was working early this morning and then mysteriously sometime after my post was made trashing Google+ and its stupid naming system policies, my account was not working. Coincidence? Highly unlikely.

More Words of Rant…

Now in the illustrious words of Dennis Miller, I don’t want to go off on a rant here but…

This is bullshit. Plain and simple. The fact that Google is trying to police the internet and yes, their service in making people use real names is just dumb and I feel a violation of rights. There are many reasons people can’t use real names online, and mainly those are for political reasons. If someone in China was exposing government lies and whatnot, using their real name would be a sure ticket they were arrested and never heard from again. Same goes for any country, not just China. Sometimes using a pen name or some sort of code name is imperative to make sure your safety isnt put at risk.

For me, this is my name. My REAL name. This is what I was named by my parents when I was born. Do I have another name in which I use for business purposes and whatnot? Yes, I do. Why? Because for the same reason I am being targeted by Google+, people do not react well to Native American traditional names. Sometimes they scoff at them or form prejudices against you because of it. My legal name is Shadow Wolf. Period. It’s on all my legal documents, when I file taxes, thats whats on it. What I do is not illegal, and for Google+ to treat me this way is appalling to say the least.

US Law states:

A person may be employed, do business, enter into contracts, sue and be sued under any name they choose at will. Such a change carries exactly the same legal weight as a court-decreed name change, as long as it is not done with fraudulent intent.

That checks out, exactly what I’m doing with using another name for business reasons. It goes on to state:

In nearly all states, a person cannot choose a name that is intended to mislead (such as adopting a celebrity’s name), that is intentionally confusing, or that incites violence; nor can one adopt, as a name, a racial slur, a threat, or an obscenity.

Not doing any of that either. Last I checked there was never a celebrity with my name nor do I have any desire to try and copy a celebrity for any reason.

So basically Google is trying to enforce its own set of rules that go against legal laws of the country or possibly countries in which they do business. Online, these laws don’t apply with exception of course such as if you are purchasing something, but apparently Google seems fit to enforce its own set of laws for G+ regardless. All because my name is “weird” and “odd” in comparison to John Smith, or “Jim Brown”. I have to wonder though if any John Smith’s on Google+ are being asked to prove who they are also since that’s a common “fake” name as well.

What annoys me more than anything though is the double standard in play. You have celebrities who use made up nicknames and crap like “The Situation” or “Snooki” and they don’t get harassed, but because my name doesn’t conform to normal standards, I am harassed and when I speak out about it, I am shut down.

For a company that claims to be so against Protect-IP and SOPA, they sure are doing a good job enforcing the yet to be decided on bills.

*UPDATE* – Jan 18, 2012
Enclosed is some screenshots of some conversations I had on G+ profiles. You’ll notice I remain professional and don’t violate any policies in my posts however most topics are pretty opinionated and heated. I can only surmise someone wanted to silence me or get even for my intellectual words by using Google against me.