The "Real Names" policy is actively harmful to the most vulnerable users, the ones the policy is purportedly supposed to protect. It does not eliminate online a

The "Real Names" policy is actively harmful to the most vulnerable users, the ones the policy is purportedly supposed to protect. It does not eliminate online abuse, as there are enough trolls and troublemakers who have no issue with using their real names. It removes the most immediate defenses for those at-risk for bullying, abuse, etc. I know people who refuse to use the service because of this. They've since partially relaxed this policy, mostly because it was never intended to protect people. It was pretty clearly intended to build Google's advertising database.