Facebook dabbles with validating users identity:
Facebook on Thursday began testing a way for celebrities, journalists, athletes and others with massive followings to have their identities validated at the globally popular online social network.
“The new process enables people to verify their identities by submitting a government issued ID,” Facebook said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.
“Once verified, they’ll also have the option to more prominently display an alternate name (nickname, maiden name, byline, etc.) on their timelines in addition to their real name.”
The validation option was being rolled out as a minor update to the Subscribe feature at Facebook for people with large numbers of followers.
Within an hour of reading this, I was blocked from logging into my Facebook account until I performed a series of tasks. I was re-routed to https://www.facebook.com/checkpoint/ and given this screen:
I chose identify photos and was met with a ridiculous set of options. The photos given were uniquely terrible ways to identify a person. Here’s one example:
This to me seems more like spam prevention than any useful service and even the url “checkpoint” implies policing (like a DUI checkpoint).
Will you continue to use facebook if they force you to prove who you are?
