Twitter launched a beta version of verified accounts recently, “to establish authenticity with people who deal with impersonation or identity confusion on a regular basis.”

We’ve had similar features on sites like ClaimID to help establish which online identities are really ours, and which ones are not.

This would shift the onus for celebrities and high-profile users to get verified, instead of suing retrospectively when others create an account in their name. And indeed, Twitter is starting with these folks first before expanding the feature to everyone else.

But you still have to be using Twitter in order to . . . [more]