Thousands of people around the world have had their access to their Google-based services revoked or at least partially locked down. This letter is an open appeal to rethink this policy

As you may know, along with thousands of people around the world, my access to all of my Google services was suddenly revoked, without warning and without reason. My original appeal to reinstate my account was rejected. I have written a letter to Google appealing this second rejection. The text of this letter appears below the jump, which may help those of you who are also appealing this decision:

Dear Google

I am writing to appeal the deactivation of my Google account.

One week ago, my entire Google account was deactivated suddenly and without warning. I was not allowed to access gmail nor any other Google service until I surrendered my personal telephone number in exchange for reinstating access to my gmail account. I still cannot access many of my other accounts, such as Google+, Reader and Buzz. My YouTube account remains locked, too.

I was never notified as to what specifically had warranted this unexpected deactivation of my account. I only learned a few hours later that my account was shut down due to the name I use on my profile page, which you claim is a violation of your "community standards". However, as stated on your own "display name" pages, I have not violated your community standards. I complied with your stated request: my profile name is "the name that [I] commonly go by in daily life."

My name is a pseudonym, as I openly state on my profile. I have used GrrlScientist as my pseudonym since 2000 and it has a long track record. I have given public lectures in several countries, received mail in two countries, signed contracts, received monetary payments, published in a number of venues and been interviewed for news stories – all using my pseudonym. A recent Google search shows that GrrlScientist, as spelled, is unique in the world. This meets at least two of your stated requirements; (1) I am not impersonating anyone and (2) my name represents just one person.

Further, according to the laws as I understand them to be in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, a person is entitled to establish and use a pseudonym if this use does not have fraudulent intent and is not meant to evade any legal obligation. Additionally, under United States common law (not sure about other countries), once a person begins using a particular name "consistently, openly and non-fraudulently, without interfering with other people's rights", it becomes a legal name. So in effect, by providing my pseudonym in my profile, I have provided my legal name – which I substantiated in my first appeal by providing other information that you specifically requested that mentions me by this name, along with a few news stories that you specifically requested that also mention me by this name.

During my online research, I have learned that there are laws that protect your European account holders from being forced to publicly reveal private information, including their real life names. For this reason, I am also sending a copy of this letter to the Data Protection Officer in London. Additionally, I am sharing my concerns with other offices in the EU.

I appreciate your desire to establish an online social community that is subjected to minimal disruptions, abuse and threatening behaviours. However, I've used the same pseudonym for more than one decade and there are no complaints registered against any of my online accounts, such as gmail, twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I have actually been a positive and contributing member of the online community, as my numerous contacts, followers and colleagues will attest to.

Further, there is no scientific evidence to show that pseudonymous people, especially those who have had the same pseudonym for many years, are more likely to indulge in socially disruptive behaviours than those who use their real life names online. In contrast, there is a lot of evidence showing that people who use their real life names online have been victimised in their real lives by predators and criminals in a number of ways, ranging from identity theft to fraud to stalking and even physical violence.

Taken together, this demonstrates that I am not one of "those people" whom you wish to shut out of the G+ community. It is also apparent that Google is enforcing a vaguely-written policy that actually increases the risks faced by its subscribers. Further, Google itself is disrupting the very community that it professes to be defending. I respectfully request Google to reinstate my access to all my services. I also strongly urge Google to rethink their online privacy policy and to rethink their lockdown procedures.

Sincerely,

GrrlScientist

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email: grrlscientist@gmail.com

twitter: @GrrlScientist