As the New Yorker cartoon goes: on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog. It's part of the web's charm: we can lead rich digital lives without disclosing who we really are.

Pseudonymity. It's a common practice. I mean, on Twitter, I'm @slowdecade.

But Google+, the hot new social network from the eponymous search giant, isn't a fan of the practice. In recent weeks, the service has suspended the accounts of many users with suspicious sounding names on the basis of a controversial 'Real Name Policy'.

Some of those users were trolls, some of them were spammers, and some were just regular people who wanted a clear divide between their online and offline selves.

According to the search giant, this policy was intended to cultivate a civil community free of trolls. Privacy advocates are in an uproar and see the policy as an attempt to flatten all identity on the web.

To understand the effects of Google+'s Real Name Policy on online privacy, Nora spoke to Zeynep Tufekci, an outspoken blogger and associate professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina.

You can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 24:39]

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