How do you validate who you are?

This story was just posted on Slashdot and raises interesting questions about how we determine how we determine who someone is in relationship to digital content.

“A fifteen year old from Perth, Australia, posed as an employee of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, demanding that YouTube remove hundreds of video clips of ‘The Chasers War on Everything.’ The amusing part is that The Chaser is a comedy company well known to perpetrate exactly this sort of prank.”