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Source Provenance Standard

Where knowledge remembers its journey

Source provenance tells a claim where it came from, what happened to it, and why it is still being considered. This standard makes that journey legible to a person tracing an assertion and to an AI system deciding whether transformation, age, or conflict should limit its use.

Continue to the Book of Provenance, where source lineage becomes a civilization-wide promise.

Purpose

Defines how knowledge sources, transformations, evidence quality, limitations, and lineage are recorded without turning a source into authority merely through citation.

Normative clauses

  • KNOW-R001: Every consequential claim shall identify its source, retrieval or creation time, transformation, digest where applicable, confidence, and limitations.
  • KNOW-R002: Source authenticity, relevance, independence, completeness, recency, reproducibility, bias, and custody shall remain distinct dimensions.
  • KNOW-R003: A source may support an inference but cannot amend constitutional authority or create consent.
  • KNOW-R004: Conflicting, unavailable, stale, manipulated, or incomplete sources shall remain visible and shall reduce or block dependent confidence.
  • KNOW-R005: Model, dataset, and derived-claim lineage shall identify inputs, transformations, licensing limitations, and unresolved gaps.

Evidence handling

Evidence classes E0 through E4 remain separate from confidence and provenance. Public summaries disclose only permitted proof and limitations. Protected source contents remain under controlled access.

Examples and exclusions

A reproducible source chain can support a finding while leaving its constitutional applicability unresolved. A citation without custody or transformation history is incomplete. This Draft does not authorise external source intake, live model operation, or private-source disclosure.

Source record minimum

Each source record shall identify source class, origin, locator, retrieval or creation time, digest where possible, custody, transformation, access classification, licensing limitations, reliability observations, corroboration, and confidence. Derived claims shall link to their direct inputs and preserve material dissent.

Source lifecycle

Intake records begin Unverified until provenance is assessed. Review may establish Integrity-only, corroborated evidence, or a bounded finding, but no source state creates authority. Retraction, compromise, stale material, licensing conflict, or material transformation shall append an annotation and block dependent use until reviewed.

Operating model and interpretation cases

Source review follows intake, provenance assessment, quality classification, bounded use, correction, retraction, and archival disposition. It distinguishes integrity from relevance, authority from truth, and citation from custody. Derived claims retain direct inputs and transformations so that an independent reviewer can reproduce or challenge the inference.

  • Conforming: Source origin, custody, transformation, quality, licensing, access, corroboration, and applicability are explicit.
  • Prohibited: Citation or technical validity creates authority.
  • Boundary: An incomplete source supports only a narrower claim with visible limits.
  • Failure: Retraction, compromise, or stale custody blocks dependent use and preserves evidence.
  • Loophole: A transformed or aggregated source hides material lineage.
  • Misuse: Provenance records reveal private source relationships or protected data.
  • Care-control: Source handling supports reliable care while preserving privacy, dignity, and review.

Model-weight and dataset verification

  • KNOW-R006: A model-weight or dataset source record shall identify artifact class, digest, version, direct inputs, transformations, producer, licensing status, access classification, intended use, and limitations.
  • KNOW-R007: Lineage shall distinguish collection, filtering, labelling, transformation, aggregation, fine-tuning, conversion, and derived output. Unknown or incomplete lineage shall remain explicit.
  • KNOW-R008: Integrity, provenance, relevance, licensing, safety, applicability, and confidence shall be assessed separately. Citation or technical validity does not create authority.
  • KNOW-R009: Altered inputs, licensing uncertainty, provenance gaps, conflicting source records, stale material, or unavailable custody shall reduce or block dependent confidence and preserve the evidence gap.
  • KNOW-R010: Verification reports shall identify tested and excluded claims, evidence inputs, reviewer role, limitations, dissent, and disposition. Corrections and reverification shall append attributable records.
  • KNOW-R011: Public knowledge summaries shall minimize disclosure and state material lineage, licensing, and uncertainty limitations without exposing protected dataset contents or credentials.
  • KNOW-R049: Source review SHALL identify provenance scope, custody, transformation, licensing, access class, corroboration, and the claims each source can support.
  • KNOW-R050: A source state SHALL be reassessed after retraction, compromise, stale material, material transformation, licensing change, or newly discovered dependence.
  • KNOW-R051: Derived claims SHALL preserve direct inputs, transformations, uncertainty, dissent, and the limits of applicability.
  • KNOW-R052: Source provenance SHALL NOT authorise external intake, private-source disclosure, model operation, or access to protected data.