uniqueness

what really is our assurance that all these email addresses actually exist and represent *unique* people? there really is very little currently.

I see no way to guarantee uniqueness of the person unless you manage to incorporate some unique characteristic of a person (right hand print, for example) into a digital signature. PEM's key certificates might be an attempt to guarantee uniqueness but even there I can cheat by having a second job under a second name, for example, and getting a certificate in both. - Carl