| You seem to think that anoynimity can be separated from privacy itself. | Anoynimity was an accidental feature of the telephone system that was | only recently eliminated. Now, it seems, that those who seek control | over others have realized that it could be eliminated in other media | as well (why not routinely fingerprint everyone, and dust all postal | mail for fingerprints? More practically, why not earmark every transaction | on the Reuters feed? Or credit every article in the Economist?). But | even these fundamental disruptions to basic institutions are dwarfed by | the threat to individual confidence to speak out and not fear retribution, | in a world with so many laws that everyone is breaking one or another... The Economist is written anonymously becuase it prevents "Dan Rather syndrome." Adam -- "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -Hume