The idea that Google having your Real Name via Google+ helps them be helpful to governments (authoritarian or otherwise) is... odd. If a government wants to ti

The idea that Google having your Real Name via Google+ helps them be helpful to governments (authoritarian or otherwise) is... odd. If a government wants to tie a Google account to a Real Name, they have plenty of options: - get a history of IP addresses that accessed the account and contact the relevant ISPs - track other Google accounts logged into from a similar pattern of IP addresses and see if there's a Real Name for any of them - look at the content associated with the account (e.g. email), which may reveal the Real Name and/or give pointers to other services (e.g. Paypal) that might well have it - if you use an Android phone with the Google account in question, Google can tie the account to a SIM and an IMEI. If the SIM is postpaid (or even prepaid in many countries), that will directly lead to a Real Name (note: authoritarian governments are very likely to require all SIMs be associated with a Real Name). Even if a prepaid SIM isn't directly associated with a Real Name, there still could be a payment trail for the SIM and/or top-ups ... - probably other angles I haven't thought of yet These are additional steps, but many of them are easy because they involve actors (e.g. ISPs, carriers, credit card processors) that are known for cooperating with governments (and sometimes even private actors like the MPAA & RIAA). Beyond that, anyone trying to tie a Google account to a Real Name is likely to do some or all of these things anyway to check whether or not you lied to Google. Giving Google your Real Name for Google+ affects whether or not they can use it. If you're not happy with how Google is going to use your Real Name, Google+ isn't for you (and probably wasn't even without the pseudonym issue, since you have concerns about Google's business practices). Giving your Real Name to Google for Google+ doesn't meaningfully change whether or not a government (or other entity in a position to legally compel Google) can tie your Google account to a Real Name.