Well still the verification of identity really doesn't have anything to do with "type a 50-word biography"
When I signed up for Knol, one thing they did was allow verification. So one way to verify you was that you gave them a phone number and your name as it was listed in the phone book. They check that it's really there, they CALL you and give you a code. You have to type that code back in.
So what that verifies is that whoever answered the phone at that number was the same person who asked them to call that name and number (listed in the phone book) in the first place. I'd call that *fairly good* verification. Not perfect, but at least it pins the typist down to a particular phone number and phone book listing.
At any rate, I don't see how a 50-word biography which could be anything I choose to make up, would satisfy any kind of identify verification. To be an *Editor* that ask that you submit a CV which I suppose if you were so inclined you could check against some college database or whatever.
BUT to be an Author they do not ask you to submit a CV. Just apparently this mini-biography.
So the point is still the same. If they are using this to verify something, that's not any sort of verification at all.
Will Johnson