I have had a facebook.com account for almost a year and half by now. However, due to my inherited paranioa, I refused to use my real name. I decided to use the name "I'm not giving my name to a machine!" and it worked for a year and a half. Last week, when I attempted to log on, I was redirected to a page saying "This account has been disabled by an administrator." I sent an email to the address they listed asking why and if it was possible to reactivate it. It took several emails and a couple days before I found out that my account was disabled because I was using a fake name, and it's against the rules to "impersonate other people." First of all, no one is really named "I'm not giving my name to a machine," and secondly, I never made any attempt to decieve people into believing my name was "I'm not giving my name to a machine."

I was so mad at the facebook gestapo, that I set up a gmail account so that I could set up a new facebook account under the name "Smithton Crelso" (also not my real name). That account was disabled within two days. I have a feeling that facebook has instituted a new "security" policy that will not serve to pretect anyone. If one were actually trying to impersonate someone, then they would have a name like "John Smith", not Smithton "Obviously not real name" Crelso. This will only remove those who use joke names, and remove some the fun from the internet.

Anyway, I am done with facebook. Those bastards.