The problem of identity and access to one's credit report

You see them all the time on the internet: ads telling you about a free copy of your credit report. This all sounds good, but as Dennis Bailey points out in the Open Society Paradox, individual access to credit reports may actually be harmful if the custodians of this information don't confirm the requestor really is who he says he is. What's to stop Joe Identity Thief from impersonating you and getting your report? See The Open Society Paradox: Security Breach Legislation Needed?. Dennis' solution, which he doesn't explicitly say in this posting but has in previous, is identity documentation that is much more robust and reliable than what we have today.