Hopefully people using Ripple will be careful about who they vouch for (although based on the level of trust people extend to near strangers on social networks, I'm not so sure about that).
I'm not sure about it either. I've heard mixed theories on what "will happen", but I'd love to see it in action. By that I mean, it's not even really in action yet because it's still centralized and used primarily for speculation of "XRP" prices.