Doesn't seem so farfetched to me. If there is gonna be de facto centralized identity providers (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc) the govt may as well get in on the game.
Only makes it more important that we get decentralized identity mechanisms (key based id) up and running sooner rather than later.
and this is part of why every email I send is PGP-signed.
<3 this decentralized way of identifying me. All you gotta do is trust a guy who trusts me, or semi-trust several guys who (semi-)trust me.
It's nitpicky, but you're using the word trust wrong here. I don't have to completely trust the people who signed your key, and I don't have to trust you at all. I have to trust the people that signed your key to have done the proper background checking. That's all. I could think your a vile, lying, cheater, but still know that when you send me that lying email, it is indeed you sending it.
Only makes it more important that we get decentralized identity mechanisms (key based id) up and running sooner rather than later.