According to Venture Beat, EA has employed 1500 engineers over eighteen month to create a single ID system, Single Identity, which will unify all their games across every platform: PC, Xbox, PS3, even iOS and Facebook.

FORBES: EA Implements 'Single Identity' System (and Data Tracking) Across All Platforms

Among its initiatives, the IRS is now issuing ID theft victims special Identity Protection Personal Identification Numbers (IP PINs), that allow them to distinguish themselves from the fraudsters and get their tax refunds processed.

FORBES: IRS Tips Won't Protect You From Identity Theft Tax Fraud

This meant the government no longer knew the identity of people leaving or entering the country - something ID cards and "e-borders" are meant to rectify.

BBC: NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Blair 'rattled' over immigration

With the REAL ID Act of 2005, they instituted a de facto national identity system by mandating that records be centralized and state-issued IDs be brought up to a common standard.

FORBES: We Don't Need a National ID Card

Open ID was dreamed up as a way to ease the mental and administrative burden of having a different login identity and password for almost every website.

BBC: Typewriter,

Particularly with Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) involved: The Redmond, Wash. monopolist made a big early move to try to impose a standard for digital ID, offering a crude version of its Passport service in 1999. (Novell had the digital identity idea even earlier but couldn't find customers).

FORBES: Where Everybody Knows Your Name