There has been an uproar of late concerning the Google Plus Community Policy and requiring everyone to use their real name or the name they are known by.

Personally, I have no problem with this, as I run a blog and write for said blog, so I have always used my real identity.  I also think that it is a forgone conclusion that when we use our real identities, we tend to be more thoughtful in our comments.  But lets put all that aside.

I don’t think that Google would be taking all of this heat for this reason.  So let’s take a trip outside of the box;  Could it be possible that Google has global plans for G+ and is planning on staying Politically Neutral?  

With all of the recent turmoil in the Middle East of late and seeing that the first thing these regimes do is block Twitter and FaceBook to hamstring their citizens from protesting, maybe Google is taking a different approach by keeping everything open.  From a business point of view, I can see some value in staying neutral and providing a communication network that doesn’t appear to be involved with cloak and dagger policies.

I know this is a real reach, but I’m not sure Google would stick with a non-anonymous policy when the community of users would do much of the policing to begin with.  But I can see some validity with a company that has world wide interests trying to stay neutral.  Google may be learning from FaceBook’s and Twitter’s past woe’s and its own troubles with China and attempting to take some preventive measures in this arena.

Personally, I think I will just sit back; enjoy the ride, and see how it all plays out.

---