Sorry @dana-edwards, I started commenting to your post, and it turned into a huge rant. It isn't meant to be targetted to you. But it's already written, and I'm going to post it anyway.
Here it goes:
Sounds good, but you have to be careful with...
I hack your facebook. I verify me as you on steemit, and then you get your facebook back. Now I become you and you can never become you anymore on here.
I have no idea why everyone is fixated on verification anyway. WHAT does that prove?
It is our actions, and how socially responsible we are in public on here that matters. Not who we are, or who we've been. You don't hard code something like this into the system, because it is unnecessary.
Let me give an example. Charlie Shrem created a steemit account charlieshrem. He talks about things that happened to Charlie Shrem that only Charlie Shrem would know. He's very public in his posts that he's Charlie Shrem, and I think that's great. I believe it's Charlie Shrem based on the content he serves us, and I'm happy with that. I don't need a number stuck next to his name to convince me he's Charlie Shrem.
...and that's fine for Charlie Shrem, because he wants to be public about himself.
Now, I like to remain private. I have a steemit life, and a non-steemit life, and that's good enough for me. You don't need to know about my non-steemit life in order to read my thoughts, or agree or disagree with me.
What we're basically doing, is verifying non-steemit lives of people, so they can have a steemit life.
This logic escapes me. Abuse will still happen on the system regardless, and verification brings more negatives than positives.
This verification system should be abandoned.