News
2007-07-13
Facebook.com bars
Gay, welcomes Hitler
Hitler is more
than welcome to join the popular social networking site
Facebook.com, but don't even try to create an account if
your
Hitler is more
than welcome to join the popular social networking site
Facebook.com, but don't even try to create an account if
your name is Gay, reported the Sydney Morning
Herald on Thursday.
The newspaper
found that the Web site—with a worldwide membership
of more than 30 million people—does not allow
people with the common surname Gay to join. The site
attempts to block people from using fake names,
especially those containing profanity or bigoted slurs.
The investigation
came after the New Zealand newspaper Dominion Post
published a story about 30-year-old Rowena Gay, who
was prevented from creating an account due to her last
name.
"I was pretty
mystified," Gay said, according to the Brisbane
Times. "I have got used to a few jokes over the
years, but for a Web site to deem my name
inappropriate—what is the world coming to?"
To validate Gay's
claims, the Sydney Morning Herald attempted to
create an account using the name. "Please enter a
legitimate name," the Web site prompted. And while
Facebook.com would not accept Gay, it allowed the newspaper
to join using the surname Hitler.
Facebook
spokesman Matt Hicks wrote in an e-mail to The
Advocate that the site "is based on real
people making real-world connections. To ensure that people
do not register with fake names or identities,
Facebook has blocked a list of common names people
might use to abuse the site. We recognize that many of
these names can also be legitimate, and we allow users to
register with them if they write to our customer
service department and verify their real name."
Duncan Gay,
deputy opposition leader in the New South Wales upper house,
is the most prominent Australian with the surname, according
to the Sydney Morning Herald. After he was notified
of the situation, Gay told the newspaper he was
"bothered" by the issue.
"That's a bit
tough, it's pretty ordinary.... It bothers me to the
extent that quite often when you give your name you get a
twitter. People looking and smirking," Gay told the
paper. "This is a continuation of that."
He mentioned to
the Sydney Morning Herald that he plans to
protest the Web site's decision to block the common
Anglo surname. (The Advocate)
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