this isn't the problem. you can create a google account with whatever name you want, and as long as it looks like a regular name, they will never notice and not care.
the problem is they have different accounts with different names that are linked (android and g+) but the names are leaking through. it is hardly surprising that it is tricky to prevent that from a UX perspective.
this actually has nothing to do with "real names".
If you happen to provide similar identifiers or contacts on multiple services, they'll join them.
That's what happened with G+ and YouTube.
The mobile phone number Google kept requesting for two-factor identification -- oh, we'll use that to show your G+ profile to people who know your phone number. Fucking no fucking way you will. My G+ identity is pseudonymous, the phone number, unfortunately, isn't (and no, I didn't provide it). But sho' nuff, Google provided _that_ particular retroactive feature.
App Store ratings -- those are under your Real Name now.
Location / store reviews? Dittos.
I've asked 'em, they won't answer. But, Google, if you want us to not think you're working hand in hand with the NSA, stop carrying their water for them.
>Google, if you want us to not think you're working hand in gith the NSA, stop carrying their water for them.
I love this line and it sums up all my frustration about Google. They want me to think they're not in league with the spy agencies when they're the biggest spy agency there is.
> The mobile phone number Google kept requesting for two-factor identification -- oh, we'll use that to show your G+ profile to people who know your phone number.
Is this true? If so, holy shit. The sad point is that Google has broken so much trust that it would not surprise me at all. And it's actually prudent to assume as much.
Here's my earlier G+ post. The biggest problem: before submitting your phone number there's no way to tell what the company will do with the information
Google works for their customers: advertisers. Linking real names is central to identity management, which gives them a much better product for their advertisers.
This isn't about the NSA, and it certainly isn't about you. They're a company, they want money.
This is true to a point right? It's obvious that one you have users, you have value which you sell to the highest bidder whoever they are. They forgot who brought them value. It was the contract of a great product and the original user, us the people. If you want to remind them, leave en masse.
I guess I'll have to do my part and switch out as many of my services as possible.
It's actually trivial to prevent from a programming perspective: don't automatically link accounts, and even if they are "linked" (for login purposes), don't import/export personal information from them.
Now, a disclaimer -- I think how Google has approached this is dumb.
But, what if linking that info allows for better UX and features for your customers? At least for the majority. There will always be edge cases, in any feature we as developers ever build... Is it really as simple as "never do that, ever"?
In Google/YouTube/Google+ -- yeah, I think you can make an argument that people expected those accounts to be separate when they made them and G should not have forced them to link them. Bad form. But I honestly can see some cases where that sort of linking can be used positively.
In my humble opinion, the real issue is 1. How google forced the linkages, and before their latest "Pages" feature (which is hard to use even still) didn't allow for a workaround, 2. How long everyone's google and YouTube and android accounts have existed for. You made your YouTube account thinking it was separate. Now it's not, and that's an issue, due to a (correct at the time) assumption you made in the past, and that's not your fault.
It's a shame that this is such a mess. The only Google product I still use is Search these days. They lost my trust over a year ago now.
For me, as a developer and user, the main priority is only one:
Don't cause irreversible consequences.
That's the reason we have the "Are you sure you want to delete this?" dialogue boxes where it matters and "Undo" buttons where it doesn't.
Given the nature of the internet, the developers (especially Google) should know that once you link two accounts/names, you can't unlink them, so preventing accidental linking should be their priority.
This is the same reason I don't support automatic updates that introduce breaking changes, and I rarely even update my apps nowadays. This is also probably the reason I will buy an iPhone next time, even though I strongly oppose their closed-source/walled-garden philosophy - my my personal information and well-being are more important than open source, and at least I'm paying Apple with money, not information.
Fwiw, I made the same decision with my device choice, for the same reasons. I do run my own calendar and contacts server over SSL, to help safeguard things a bit more, as I don't trust Apple all that much either.
Far and away the biggest problem with all of this is that it's not opt-in. None of it. Not even the decision to have a G+ account at all, unless you posit that everyone who signed up an email account a decade ago before "social network" was even a thing.
To then turn around and call it "user error" when some forced integration has undesired consequences is just abominable.
the problem is they have different accounts with different names that are linked (android and g+) but the names are leaking through. it is hardly surprising that it is tricky to prevent that from a UX perspective.
this actually has nothing to do with "real names".