Q.  Why is anonymity so important to you? 

Anonymity is important because it is a practical way to avoid many forms
of illegitimate power. 

If you buy your groceries with cash and never give your name, it's
harder for the store to sell your purchasing habits to anyone else. It's
harder for the FBI to tell what books you are buying, or who you are
meeting for dinner, or where you are flying, or who you are flying with,
if you don't give out your name when you do those things. 

For example, the Census Bureau helped the US Government round up all the
Japanese-Americans during WW2, by telling them how many Japanese lived
on each block of each town in the US. If those people had had the sense
to not fill out their Census Bureau forms, they would not have spent
years illegally jailed. 

Living anonymously is a small, personal choice that powerless people can
do to protect themselves from powerful organizations. That is why so
many powerful organizations want to eliminate anonymity. 
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Excerpt from http://cryptome.org/gilmore-v-usa-faq.htm
by John Gilmore, "Gilmore v. Ashcroft -- FAA ID challenge FAQ"
John Gilmore, gnu@faaid.toad.com, July 18, 2002