I'm not very happy with the way Wuala handles privacy. 


A. Facts
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1. Private groups appear under World > Tops / Recommended / New
2. Users with nothing to share appear under World > Tops / Recommended / New
3. My real name, intended for my friends only, appears everywhere, even in public areas. 


B. Background
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1. If my company were to use a Wuala group for internal file sharing (i.e. not for presentation), I wouldn't want others to even know that this group exists. 

2. Maybe I just want to use the technical aspect of Wuala (file sharing), not the social aspects. My user name and account details should not appear some top rank list without my consent.  

3. With the name, I currently have only the following choices: 
a) I can choose a very general or cryptic name. This is good for public display, but not suitable for private or group contacts. 
b) I can enter my nickname. This works fine, if all my friends know me by this nickname. But usually a persons is member of various (real) social groups, and rarely do they all know him/her by the same nickname. And this (private) nickname is often not suitable for display in e.g. work-related groups. 
c) I can enter my real name. This is good for more formal contacts (e.g. a work-related group), and is acceptable in the private context, but is definitely not what I want for public display. 
So, whatever I do, I always end up with a conflict. 


C. Suggestions: 
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1. Private groups should really be treated as private. They should be visible only for members and invited persons (during the process of acceptance). 

2. Users should be able to select in their profile, whether they wish to appear in the public area or not.  (other than by explicitly publishing something) 

3. The naming scheme should be much more flexible: 

a) login ID: 
   - used for login.
   - always displayed together the chosen name (same as now, discourages abuse).
   - ID is fixed, but can be changed on request (by mail to wuala, and within reasonable limits). 
   
b) Public name (example: first name)
   - shown in all public places (World, public groups, etc.)
   - used as my default name in public groups (together with my login ID)
   
c) Private name (example: firstname lastname) 
   - used as my default name in private groups and with my friends (together with my login ID).
   
d) Override my own name: 
   - As a group member, I can choose a specific name to be shown only within this group. This results in a group-specific nickname (comparable to real-life situations). 
   
e) Override a friend's name: 
   - As a friend of a person, I can choose my personal nickname for him, so I will always see him by this nickname. Like in real life: If I call someone 'darling', she will always be my darling, no matter how she chooses to present herself to various groups. 
   
The idea of this suggestion is to reflect the real use of personal names in real life. 
It is not a way of obfuscating my identity, because (like now) my login ID would always be shown together with the chosen name. 

2009-04-01  created.
2009-04-01  slightly edited