Thoughts on Social Networking and Trust Networks

So there is a lot of grousing about how you have to use your real name on Google +.  Many observers are casting this service as an identity management service.  Consider the possibilities of the Internet if you could count on someone's identity.  Right now there is much anonymity on the Internet that allows much mischief to take place (child porn and victimization, scams, etc). Look at what this guy did to some neighbors http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/16/7387638-man-steals-57k-from-neighbors-using-their-facebook-info.  What services could be realized if you had a secure easy method of guaranteeing someone's identity that you had never met before?   Would this make fraud type activities more prevalent or less?  If more people trust a system is it easier to pull off a scam?

I had a database systems teacher tell me once that when the East German government collapsed, they discovered huge warehouses of documentation on the citizens.  It was generated by the citizens on their friends, neighbors, and relatives and the government was was trying to leverage it to find the citizens that should be questioned about their allegiance.  My instructor went on to ask what would East Germany be like if the government had a database capable of cross referencing all that data?  Would East Germany still be totalitarian?  Contrast that to the present day free world, Facebook has created that database, and has people standing inline to use it.  Once you are in you can map the relationships and understand who associates with whom.  Scary to think that this info could one day be used against you.  I personally do not participate in Facebook, but I see where some sites are trying to leverage the Facebook login process to authenticate you to the site. I guess this means that Facebook has some sort of API for the login?  There is an API for ranking your friends http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/18/7407307-code-reveals-top-victims-of-your-relentless-facebook-stalking. 

To pull off what Google + is trying to do, they will have to provide more benefits to the "authenticated" user, above and beyond what an unverified user could have.  Obviously we have setup trust type networks before.  Certificate Authorities issues / signed cryptographic certs that allow a company to establish an identity for their servers/sites.  This allows transactions and communication between servers, but what about people?  If I trust Bob and I trust Mary and they trust me, should Mary trust Bob?  Angie's List is a list of contractors that understand their reputation is something to leverage to do more business.  Contrast this with Craigslist.  Most of this site is really about anonymity... and let's face it Craigslist does have a problem with fraud. 

What do you you think?