Why ImmutableProof Exists
The long-term problem
Digital evidence often depends on systems that change, drift, or disappear.
- Services shut down
- Policies change
- Platforms evolve
- Interpretation shifts over time
What usually goes wrong
- Verification requires contacting a server
- Changes can alter behavior without clear notice
- Systems require ongoing trust in an operator
- Meaning becomes dependent on a platform's current rules
The design choice
ImmutableProof is intentionally minimal to reduce interpretive risk.
- Proof-of-existence and finalization only
- Deterministic verification behavior
- Offline-capable verification by specification
- Frozen protocol semantics for INP v1.0
- Explicit failure behavior
Doing less is how permanence is pursued.
What a proof means
A valid proof indicates only that specific content existed in a specific form at a specific point in time and was cryptographically finalized.
It does not assert truth, accuracy, ownership, legality, or intent.
See: Legal.
What longevity means in practice
- Verification is specified to be possible without reliance on ImmutableProof services
- INP v1.0 semantics are frozen
- Future protocol versions (if any) do not reinterpret existing proofs