[Web Feed] Once in a while, big companies suggest that the answer to abuse is to ban ano...

..nymity and institute a Real Names policy. This time, it is Goo



Once in a while, big companies suggest that the answer to abuse is to ban anonymity and institute a Real Names policy. This time, 
security.googleblog.com/2021/02/know-prevent-fix-framework-for-shifting.html: it is Google’s turn. They think that critical software should only be authored by people with “real names”.

I don’t want to go into whether this is a good idea or not. Nor philosophical discussions of what a “real name” is. I want to discuss how this would work practically.

Let’s assume that a central website – like GitHub – decided to gather real names for contributors to critical software.

Let’s also assume that every user has a passport, driving licence, or other suitable identification document.

How does a website:

-
Determine the authenticity of the document?

-
Match the user to the person represented on the document?



There are more questions – but those two will do to start with.




Link 1


That’s not my name! Practical problems in real name policies. – Terence Eden’s Blog: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/02/whats-my-name-again