I think that badges with names on EAGx and EAGs are a bad idea. There are some people who would rather not be connected to the EA movement—some animal advocates or AI safety people. I feel like I’m speculating here, but I imagine a scenario like this:
Some people take a picture at EAG
The picture gets posted online
The badge and the person are in that picture, somewhere in the description/comments something says EAG/EA/AI safety or something similar
Some people find it at some point, or other people notice it and connect things
Some political opponents of that person make everyone aware that this person has connections to EA brand (think about the upcoming movie and FTX) or that that person receives money from some specific sources.
The only use cases for names on badges I can see are that you can:
Have people recognize you right away. You don’t need to tell your name to everyone
People can take a picture of your badge to keep in touch with you later.
Security can verify that you are the person on the badge
I see people using the badges for the first two things from time to time but I don’t think it’s a huge use case. Some alternatives for third use case:
Badges with pictures make it even easier to verify that the person on the badge is the person. This is nice but introduces a lot of friction
Just show your ticket to security
I think there should at least be an option to have badges that don’t have names, and that it should be normalized to have badges like that. It’s not obvious to some people that they can cover their badge. Other options include:
Have people recognize you right away. You don’t need to tell your name to everyone
This is a VERY huge use case for me. It’s so useful!
If someone is in this situation they can just take off their name tag. Security sometimes ask to see it, but you can just take it out of a pocket to show them and put it back
I’m a big fan of names on most badges. But I’d be fine with some fraction of people not having names on their badges, in cases where that might be pragmatic. I also think that pseudonyms can make a lot of sense on occasion.
I imagine a lot of the downvotes here are on “names are generally a bad idea”, rather than “some people should be allowed to not use their names on badges.”
With facial recognition, one could argue that it’s the camera more than the badge that poses the OPSEC risk here. If you don’t want the broader world to know you attended an event, taking your name off the badge shouldn’t make you OK with being photographed.
I guess a solution here could be color coded badges e.g. red one says “Please don’t photograph me and if you accidentally included me in a picture, don’t share that picture)”
I think that badges with names on EAGx and EAGs are a bad idea. There are some people who would rather not be connected to the EA movement—some animal advocates or AI safety people. I feel like I’m speculating here, but I imagine a scenario like this:
Some people take a picture at EAG
The picture gets posted online
The badge and the person are in that picture, somewhere in the description/comments something says EAG/EA/AI safety or something similar
Some people find it at some point, or other people notice it and connect things
Some political opponents of that person make everyone aware that this person has connections to EA brand (think about the upcoming movie and FTX) or that that person receives money from some specific sources.
The only use cases for names on badges I can see are that you can:
Have people recognize you right away. You don’t need to tell your name to everyone
People can take a picture of your badge to keep in touch with you later.
Security can verify that you are the person on the badge
I see people using the badges for the first two things from time to time but I don’t think it’s a huge use case. Some alternatives for third use case:
Badges with pictures make it even easier to verify that the person on the badge is the person. This is nice but introduces a lot of friction
Just show your ticket to security
I think there should at least be an option to have badges that don’t have names, and that it should be normalized to have badges like that. It’s not obvious to some people that they can cover their badge. Other options include:
Optional name badges (let people choose)
First names only
Pseudonyms/handles
Color-coded privacy preferences
This is a VERY huge use case for me. It’s so useful!
If someone is in this situation they can just take off their name tag. Security sometimes ask to see it, but you can just take it out of a pocket to show them and put it back
Are you aware of any major conferences that do not use name badges?
If anything I think names are more important at EAG than other conferences, because you have to locate your 1-1 partners manually each time.
I’m a big fan of names on most badges. But I’d be fine with some fraction of people not having names on their badges, in cases where that might be pragmatic. I also think that pseudonyms can make a lot of sense on occasion.
I imagine a lot of the downvotes here are on “names are generally a bad idea”, rather than “some people should be allowed to not use their names on badges.”
With facial recognition, one could argue that it’s the camera more than the badge that poses the OPSEC risk here. If you don’t want the broader world to know you attended an event, taking your name off the badge shouldn’t make you OK with being photographed.
I guess a solution here could be color coded badges e.g. red one says “Please don’t photograph me and if you accidentally included me in a picture, don’t share that picture)”