On the Internet, it is common practice to permit anonymous access to various services. Traditionally, this has been done with a plain-text password mechanism using "anonymous" as the user name and using optional trace information, such as an email address, as the password. As plain-text login commands are not permitted in new IETF protocols, a new way to provide anonymous login is needed within the context of the Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) framework. [STANDARDS-TRACK]