Our Internet is a paradise for consumers but a hell for citizens.

Our Internet is a paradise for consumers but a hell for citizens.

That Facebook's stance on pseudonyms may be entrenching autocracies doesn't seem to bother the company in the least. In fact, the Chinese edition of the “Facebook Revolution” bears all the markings of an anti-revolution: Facebook has been criticized for deactivating the account of the prominent Internet activist who goes by the pseudonym of Michael Anti. In Egypt, Facebook was precariously close to clipping the wings of the future revolutionaries when it suspended the Facebook page started by the Google executive Wael Ghonim, who, of course, was also using a pseudonym.

Invitation to a Dialogue: Nameless on the Web?

Invitation to a Dialogue: Nameless on the Web?

Facebook has 800 million users who are required to use their real names (“Naming Names: Rushdie Wins Facebook Fight,” front page, Nov. 15), and, as a result, are identified with and accountable for what they post. It is time to consider Facebook’s real-name policy as an Internet norm because online identification demonstrably leads to accountability and promotes civility.

Salman Rushdie Runs Afoul of Web’s Real-Name Police

Salman Rushdie Runs Afoul of Web’s Real-Name Police

Mr. Rushdie’s predicament points to one of the trickiest notions about life in the digital age: Are you who you say you are online? Whose business is it — and why?