One need not be paranoid to worry about the long tentacles of surveillance by the government and by businesses as well (for a very thorough treatment of the latter topic, see Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism). It has crept into our game as well, obviously, in the various anti-cheating protocols for live and online play (wanding and searches for the former, cameras and software that detects when one switches screens for the latter), but here’s a new intrusion I hadn’t heard about. (HT: Marginal Revolution)
There may be some minor benefits, but the danger of misuse seems greater. Of course, it’s unlikely that anyone will care about determining the identity of non-professional players (though one never knows), but it’s quite inconvenient for a GM who wants to get in some practice and try out some openings with an anonymous account. Suppose Ian Nepomniachtchi wants to engage in some online play in preparation for his World Championship match with Ding Liren. The Chinese government or some well-funded friends of Ding’s could potentially find Nepo and get a leg up in their preparation.
I’m no Luddite, but such intrusions into every aspect of life are bad for society as a whole and for the individual as well. It grows tiresome, being forced to surrender one’s privacy and personal data to be able to do practically anything with a computer (other than throw it over a cliff).