It is interesting - I would agree on the principle that anonymity is a right - similar to the EU's recently introduced 'right to be forgotten', and the twin brother of free speech (that is, the right *not* to leak information). Of course, when you are talking about money, people's minds immediately go to another recently-discussed topic on the list, campaign finance reform and the related but separate institution of bribery. That is a pretty good example where transactions should not be private, but that is because it is concerning a public property - namely, political office. This does not clear up the issue any, because where the private citizen starts and their public role begins is unclear, and the question of whether money is speech is left open. Personally, I view the choice to give money (and to whom) speech, and the actual gift action...regulate the action.
Anyway, it always seems ridiculous when the government condemns TOR (The Onion Router) in these hacker/internet/electronic fraud/etc cases because the Navy invented it for reasons not dissimilar to what you were talking about, communicating across the borders of politically sensitive regimes. -Arlo James Barnes
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