Quoting Ray Everett-Church:
As stated before, I have heard no convincing argument that it is in the consumers best interest to have an anonymous *vendor*. Sure it's vital that *consumers* be allowed to remain anonymous, but if you're selling a product or service, there's no legitimate reason why a business needs to remain anonymous given issues of warranties, product liability, sales taxes, etc.
I can think of a number of reasons why a business would want to remain "hidden". Fear of retribution is the biggest. This could be "valid" retribution (such as for selling shoddy products or annoying sales practices) or "invalid" retribution (such as selling a product that offends the local moral or legal establishment), but is a product that people desire and are willing to pay money for. But such markets are "illegal" and thus not to be thought about by good little citizen units. alano@teleport.com | "Those who are without history are doomed to retype it."