Dave Winer wrote about “internet identity” and that several companies were probably thinking about solving the problem. Specifically, he said:

But because money is so central to identity, it’s surprising that there isn’t a Google or Amazon of identity. Seems there’s money to be made here. An organization with physical branches everywhere, with people in them who can help with indentity (sic) problems.

This reminded me of the proposal to have US Post Offices become banks (for example, here and a zillion other places.)

The advantages:

• There are post offices everywhere. The postal system is constitutionally mandated to be present, so it’s useful for them to have a valuable mission even as the volume of paper mail declines.
• The “Bank of the US Post Office” could provide an ATM at each branch. You could withdraw cash without fees anywhere in the US.
• They could provide a low cost (no cost?) saving/checking accounts for the traditionally “unbanked”, instead making people use check cashing services, payday lenders, etc. who siphon off a percentage of the transaction.
• Postal employees have a strong ethos of caring for the transactions, and already have procedures for handling cash.
• Post Offices are accustomed to handling critical, private matters in a timely way.

Identity management seems another valuable service that the USPS might provide.