"There is no universal context, no matter how many times geeks want to tell you that you can be one person to everyone at every point. But just because people are doing what it takes to be appropriate in different contexts, to protect their safety, and to make certain that they are not judged out of context, doesn’t mean that everyone is a huckster. Rather, people are responsibly and reasonably responding to the structural conditions of these new media. And there’s nothing acceptable about those who are most privileged and powerful telling those who aren’t that it’s OK for their safety to be undermined. And you don’t guarantee safety by stopping people from using pseudonyms, but you do undermine people’s safety by doing so."

“Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power (Danah Boyd)

Letterbombing

charlietodd:

My friend Jeff Greenspan developed this cool technique for “bombing” a Facebook wall.  He got a crew together to change their profile photos to letters and then sequentially post “KEEP FEAR ALIVE” on the walls of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Fox News.

Link: Letterbombing

Also see: The Tourist Lane, a collaboration between Jeff and Improv Everywhere.