Blizzard is implementing changes to their controversial "Real ID" system and is now allowing users to opt out of the Real ID system completely along with opting out of the Facebook integration and hiding their name from friend of friends lists.
Screenshot of the new Real ID options (click to view larger)
Blizzard's official announcement is below:
We'd like to make you aware of the new Real ID-related privacy options we've introduced to Battle.net. These options provide Real ID users with additional tools for customizing the service based on their preferences, enabling the ability to opt in or out of the Real ID "Friends of Friends" and "Add Facebook Friends" features or to turn off Real ID altogether.
Real ID offers an optional, convenient way for keeping in touch with real-world friends you know and trust, whether they're playing World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, or one of our future games. The "Friends of Friends" and "Add Facebook Friends" features provide you with even more options to stay connected while you play by making it easier for real-life friends to locate each other on Battle.net. You can easily enable or disable these features through your Battle.net privacy settings by logging in to your Battle.net account at http://www.battle.net/.
Real ID offers an optional, convenient way for keeping in touch with real-world friends you know and trust, whether they're playing World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, or one of our future games. The "Friends of Friends" and "Add Facebook Friends" features provide you with even more options to stay connected while you play by making it easier for real-life friends to locate each other on Battle.net. You can easily enable or disable these features through your Battle.net privacy settings by logging in to your Battle.net account at http://www.battle.net/.
Blizzard also changed the amount of Battle.net accounts that can be associated with an authenticator to only one. This is to help protect against account theft which has been prevalent in World of WarCraft accounts, but could be an upcoming issue for StarCraft 2 account as they also use the Battle.net system.
To help keep Battle.net accounts as secure as possible, we’ve recently changed how Battle.net authenticators can be used. Going forward, Battle.net authenticators can now only be associated with one Battle.net account at a time. No changes are being made to how many game licenses a single Battle.net account can support. You can still have multiple World of Warcraft accounts under a single Battle.net account, for instance, and all game licenses linked with a Battle.net account will still be protected if an authenticator is in use.
Those of you who currently have more than one Battle.net account associated with a single authenticator will be able to maintain your existing setup without needing to do anything. This change will only affect new authenticator attachments. But, if at some point you decide to detach the authenticator from any of your Battle.net accounts for any reason, you won't be able to reattach it if it's already associated with another Battle.net account.
For more information on the Battle.net authenticator and mobile authenticator application (available for free with many mobile carriers), please visit http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/blizzardauth
Those of you who currently have more than one Battle.net account associated with a single authenticator will be able to maintain your existing setup without needing to do anything. This change will only affect new authenticator attachments. But, if at some point you decide to detach the authenticator from any of your Battle.net accounts for any reason, you won't be able to reattach it if it's already associated with another Battle.net account.
For more information on the Battle.net authenticator and mobile authenticator application (available for free with many mobile carriers), please visit http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/blizzardauth
Are you using an authenticator for your account? Why or why not?
Links
World of WarCraft Forums - Source
World of WarCraft Forums - Source
Battle.net - Log-in to change Real ID settings
