I don't think society worked that way until the web made it possible for society to work that way.

I very much do think so - moreover, it's literally how it worked for decades, if not centuries. Before the internet, there was only one organization that knew whether you paid your taxes, the IRS. There was only one organization that knew your bank balance, the bank. There was only one organization that knew whether you have active water service, the water company. Everybody else - including yourself - had to either guess, or ask the single authoritative source.

Internet changed nothing about this. It only increased the number of queries and shortened response times.