&gt; name = what they call themselves<p>That ability to call yourself something <i>at your option</i> is more than just a name - it&#x27;s the very definition of privacy in the modern age.<p>It used to be that you had privacy when you moved away from society. Acquiring privacy was mostly an exercise in hiding information. In the modern world where logfiles exist forever and the difficulty of getting away form all network-connected microphones is rising fast.<p>When you know you cannot hide from eavesdroppers, the tactics switch form concealment to   steganography. You have the possibility of privacy <i>if-and-only-if</i> you have the effective capacity to misrepresent yourself.<p>Unfortunately, real-name policies are <i>de facto</i> attacks on privacy and the right of to chose how to present yourself to the world. Worse, suggests a new interpretation for the  &quot;real-names make social interaction more polite&quot; argument, societies without privacy resist experimentation because of chilling effects.<p>As for the proposed workaround of using a fake name: I guess they are supposed simply hope that Facebook <i>doesn&#x27;t ask</i> about their name, everybody they know <i>doesn&#x27;t tell</i> them the truth