iPhone Hacker ‘MuscleNerd’ Suspended From Google+ for Not Providing Real Name

Google’s latest attempt at a social network is Google+. After only a few weeks of being in a private beta, there are already 18+ million people registered on the network.

On Google+, Google requires that you provide your real, full name when making your account. While this may not prove to be a problem for most users, those under the internt’s limelight that don’t want their real name out there for all to see may find this requirement of Google’s to be a dilemma.

Legendary unlock wizard and jailbreak hacker, MuscleNerd, has run into this problem with Google, and the results are that his Google+ account has been suspended…

MuscleNerd has been a prominent member of the iPhone Dev-Team for years, and he is responsible for many of the achievements related to unlocking the iPhone. With almost 230,000 followers on Twitter, MuscleNerd is definitely an influential and well-respected member of the jailbreak community.

After signing up for Google+ under his online name, MuscleNerd received a notification today that his account had been suspended. The creator of Cydia, Jay “saurik” Freeman, addressed this problem with Google banning the use of pseudonyms in a lengthy post from his own Google+ account.
This issue with the merging of one’s real and online identity proves to be a big one for people like MuscleNerd that have maintained an air of anonymity on the internet for so long. In fact, most hackers operate under contrived “usernames” online to keep their real identity a secret.

It will be interesting to see Google’s reaction to the suspension of MuscleNerd’s account, and I wonder if Google+ will eventually allow people to operate under pseudonyms with full permission.

Does it bother you that Google is enforcing such a policy? Will this practice of maintaing a separate, ”online” identity be able to continue as social networks become more transparent? Let us know your thoughts below.