BY STEVEN HSIEH & MALLORY PERRYMAN

An author by any other name will get deactivated. That’s what award-winning novelist Salman Rushdie recently found out when he tried to join Facebook using the name-- Salman Rushdie.

The Washington Post explains...

“...Facebook had first deactivated his account because they didn’t believe he was who he said he was. But after sending in a copy of his passport, the company then said he would have to go by his given first name, Ahmed, on the site.”

But Rushdie wasn’t having it. He took to the Twitterverse to tell his followers:

“Dear #Facebook, forcing me to change my FB name from Salman to Ahmed Rushdie is like forcing J. Edgar to become John Hoover.”

The Atlantic Wire notes-- Facebook’s name policy is well-intended- but in cases like this-- it’s over the top.

“The whole thing emphasizes the catch-22 of Internet identity. As Rushdie experienced, social networks make impersonation an easy art. And Facebook's strict rules are in his best interest.  But at times, these social networks take these policies to a ridiculous level...”

After the story hit the media circuit, Facebook issued an official apology and swapped “Ahmed” for the preferred “Salman”. But as The New York Times reports-- the battle over online identity-- known unofficially as the “nym wars”-- is far from over.

“One side envisions a system in which you use a sort of digital passport, bearing your real name and issued by a company like Facebook, to travel across the Internet. Another side believes in the right to don different hats — and sometimes masks — so you can consume and express what you want, without fear of offline repercussions.”

As for Rushdie-- he triumphantly returned to Facebook with this post:

“Victory!...Goodbye Ahmed, get back into the passport where you belong. Salman returns.”