[dredmorbius]

"In practice, the forced revelation of information makes individual privilege and power more important. When everyone has to play with their cards on the table, so to speak, then people who feel like they can be themselves without consequence do so freely -- these generally being people with support groups of like-minded people, and who are neither economically nor physically vulnerable. People who are more vulnerable to consequences use concealment as a method of protection: it makes it possible to speak freely about controversial subjects, or even about any subjects, without fear of harassment."

Yonatan Zunger, former chief architect of Google+, writing after thevservice had rescinded its Real Names policy.

https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/WegYVNkZQqq