I'm still not convinced that the name "Nick Szabo" itself isn't a pseudonym... how would the reporter know? It's not like "Nick" is going to show them his passport or anything...
>Mr. Szabo’s was unavailable for comment. Furthermore, George Washington University says that despite widespread reports that Mr. Szabo worked as a law professor at the school, it has no records of his ever working there in that capacity. The university did confirm, though, that he received a law degree from the school in 2006.
I always thought the biggest downside to dropping your life, changing your name, and trying to start over would be the inability to get a college-requiring job, but maybe it would be a possibility. (Like a witness protection program, without the federal support)
>An encouraging fact undocumented students should keep in mind when considering college: No federal law requires proof of citizenship to be admitted to U.S. colleges. Most institutions set their own admission policies.
You'd still need a high school diploma or equivalent to get into a good college, and those may require ID, or at least keeping up the fake since you were a teen. For Szabo, if he really is a fake name and got a high school diploma with it, I'd say he deserves us not knowing.
You could probably get the same kind of IDs that undocumented residents get in order to get a driver's license. So, no SSN, but a number for tax and identification purposes.
Another big problem I see with pseudonymous reputations is entry. If most people are blocking posts from new pseudonyms, how does one get a new reputation stablished? I've had several years to establish a net.reputation for "Nick Szabo", and it might take a long time for any of my pseudonyms to catch up.
He's right, he had to work all the way until around 2013 before a pseudonym finally caught up :-p