March 16, 2009

It's hard to be a superhero

If your real name is Batman, or Yoda, or even... Christmas, you may have a hard time if you want to create a Facebook account. The social network apparently filters such names, though it is not clear if it is for legal reasons:
Facebook ... won't say how many names are on its blocked list or how often names are rejected. It occasionally happens when it appears the chances of fraud are greater than the chances that someone is really named, say, Seymour Butts. A name like Batman gets flagged by Facebook because, writes spokeswoman Meredith Chin, the number of real Batmans is probably "fewer than the number of people who could potentially misuse the name on the site."
[The Washington Post]

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