superclown2 - 7:27 pm on Feb 14, 2013 (gmt 0)

Some governments will consider it too risky to have thousands of anonymous, untraceable and unverified citizens — “hidden people”; they’ll want to know who is associated with each online account, and will require verification at a state level, in order to exert control over the virtual world

We are already seeing this in the UK. Our .UK registrar, Nominet, has been quietly cancelling thousands of domains when the registrants couldn't be positively identified. It is no secret that the UK government has been pressing for this for some time.

Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance

I suspect this has already begun. We are all seeing 'big brand' sites occupying top positions for key phrases they wouldn't normally be expected to rank for. How much more verified can you be than a brand?

Personally, I don't like it, but this is the way things are, and the way they will go further in the future.
The Wild West days will soon be a distant memory.