[reshambabble]

There are two interesting groups at play here - the tech companies that own all data, usernames, etc. on their platform and the user that needs to be on their platform for the company to exist and be successful. Our private information becomes public information when we share it with some of these companies, and they are given permission to own and use the information to a certain extent. They promise us security and stability at first because they need us, but when they don't depend on us anymore they can get away with sacrificing those users who don't contribute enough in order to serve their own interests. Because what does losing one person do to them? Are we all going to boycott Instagram now? Probably not. There definitely needs to be some regulation on how internet-based businesses can use and change a user's information because our public/internet identity has become so integrated into our lives that an incident like a sudden change in username can feel like a violation of privacy (even when it's not really one).