One of the aspects of this system definitely allows a person to have one or more digital identities, and use that identity to authoritatively take actions that will be respected as coming from a specific underlying person (or corporate entity, for that matter). Identity plays an important role in web of trust systems, since it allows us to rate the information sources.

And yes, you're entirely correct that this uses a group rather than a single authority to verify identity.

But it's fair to say that the uses of such a system extend far beyond just verifying identity.