I would say that at least 80% of my friends and family have pseudonyms here in France. I just chalk it up to the fact that they take care to make it look close to a real name, or at least have a first and last name, even if they are sometimes hilariously fake. In contrast, I'm sure 100% of my American friends and family have their real names, yours truly included. Maybe it's a cultural thing?

Without pseudonyms, I'd have to log in here as [NAME REDACTED BY WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM]. What's the fun in that?

As time marches on, I am coming to love Deutschland more and more.

I'm sick of pundits tossing around dismissive terms like 'paranoid' and 'wingnut' in reference to Germany's privacy sensitivity, while simultaneously stroking the machinery of personal data mining.

That being said, I don't see this being upheld by the EU considering the precedent already set, and any attempt to 'ban' FB in Germany would not only be unenforceable, it would also be a pretty shocking case of governmental censorship of the free internet.

Anyone have a more enlightened perspective of how serious this ruling could be in that context? What effects might this realistically have?

Requiring real names in all circumstances is a ridiculous policy anyway.

Also side note, maybe Facebook asks everyone this, but recently I've been getting a "How do you pronounce your name?" prompt on my profile. I could only interpret this as, "your name looks like foreign garbage to our computers, plz halp."

I use a pseudonym in the US without issue. Actually, my siblings and parents do as well. If Facebook decides to remove the account I can simply start another. I use it to log into unimportant websites and the messenger for over seas friendships. Changing the account is hardly any loss.

Well that is a nice step forward I think! Requiring real identification in this day and age is anti-productive and against identity protection safety measures.