Google+ suspended

Well, it happened as I feared, Google+ has suspended my profile (for not using my real name I believe).



I wish I didn't have to fear for my job for speaking out in favor of gay rights, women's rights, separation of church and state, and legalization but unfortunately that is the reality of the world I live in. I, like many others, have even received death threats for speaking out on these issues so my desire to be able to blog and post about these issues anonymously are not just imagined, I have very real concerns. I have concerns over my employment as well.

I am asking Google to reconsider, we will see what they say.

Update: I submitted the form referencing my blog here where I've been posting as Dark Star. Will let you know what I hear back.


The post I made briefly before my suspension began:

I fear I will banned from Google+ soon and that is a sickening feeling.

I wish I didn't have to fear for my job for speaking out in favor of gay rights, women's rights, separation of church and state, and legalization but that is the reality of the world I live in. I have received death threats for speaking out on these issues so it is not mere paranoia behind my desire to remain known by my pseudonym.

I was very much looking forward to moving my activism to Google+ and there was no mention of new and draconian naming policies when I signed up for Google+ with an account that has had a public profile for years. I have long trusted google to "do the right thing" by their users and I honestly felt that they tried to live by their motto of Don't Be Evil - until now.

And yes, I'm aware that Facebook has such policies - they were upfront about it so I never used Facebook. But Google had specifically spoken out about the need for anonymity in the past - so I thought they recognized this. I wasn't aware that I needed a lawyer to carefully review their policy changes - Mea Culpa

If I am banned I won't be back as I will not be bullied or blackmailed into revealing my identity and putting my employment (and potentially my family) at risk because of the extremely bigoted environment where I happen to live.

I hope Google will rethink this policy soon. Political anonymity has been a US tradition going back to the Founding Fathers in order that we might speak more freely in hostile political environments, in which we sadly still find ourselves.


2011/08/20 - I remain suspended and refuse to change my name - supposedly they are working on supporting 'aliases', we will see how that goes.