Hiding behind the cloak of online anonymity, trolls and other nasty people can vent whatever is on their mind, be it ever so vile. If you've ever seen the classic Sci-Fi film Forbidden Planet, you know how ugly our baser urges can be.

But no matter how nasty people may get, the principle of online anonymity is still worth protecting, says Dave Maass of San Francisco's Electronic Frontier Foundation in a thoughtful post today.