Changelog

2026-10-19

Adopted the Proof Protocol License 1.0 (LICENSE.md). Specifications: Apache-2.0. Software: proprietary.
Added ETHICS.md (Proof Economy Code of Ethics).
All prior versions of the specifications are relicensed under Apache-2.0 (see NOTICE.md).

Section 22: maintainer responsible for editorial text only; conformance determined from the records, not decided by the maintainer
CONTRIBUTING.md updated to match
docs/faq.md: notes that PP-SPEC-079 v0.1.2 (4.2.3) does not allow the Lab to run the Proof Witness in Independent Test Lab Mode

Proof is attributed at four levels: SUT, DUT, CUT, and AUT. In this specification the AUT is the path an attack travels; outcomes caused by the agent's own conduct are attributed to the AUT under PP-SPEC-078 (2.2, 2.2.5). Overview, FAQ, and glossary updated.

Renamed to ProofSwarm: The Dead Canary Protocol (formerly Prooflock)
Proof, not evidence: wherever the text meant what the protocol produces, relies on, accepts, or prices, "evidence" is now "proof". Evidence remains the word for inputs inside a proof record (liveness, cause, differential, verification evidence). Evidence is not proof; proof contains evidence.

Role terms: Provider replaces Vendor (any party that builds, maintains, sells, or operates the DUT, commercial or not); Implementor replaces buyer and is defined in Section 2
FUNDING.md funding disclosure ([FUNDED] Yes or No, [FUNDED BY] name and URL per funder); Proof Economy Code of Ethics applies
Flock renamed Proof Swarm throughout
Section 21, Records and Registration (replaces the Reserved placeholder): Record ID is the content hash of the RFC 8785 canonical form, excluding signatures; every record names a Holder, never the Vendor
Append-only Signature Envelope; endorser signatures may be added without changing the Record ID
Registry Receipt returned on registration and carried in the record; 9.7 registration precedes publication
Revocation records; Bundles (Merkle aggregation of Record IDs under one Holder); validity window; Disclosure Levels (public, holder_only, embargoed, sealed); Delegation
21.11 a Unit of Proof is indivisible and unweighted at the record level
21.12 Registry federation and cross-anchoring; any PP-SPEC-004 registry may serve
21.13 run Conformance Levels: Executed, Conformant, Registered; unregistered runs produce no Units of Proof
Schema: uop_id constrained to the Record ID form; registry_receipt, holder, disclosure, valid_through, signatures added (optional this version, required from 0.8.0)
Execution step 9 registers before publishing; 18.3.5 separates component conformance from run Conformance Level

14.3 Absence Ladder: every non-observation is Blind, Void, or Null, in that precedence; only Null scores
Closed accounting: released equals the sum of all outcomes including Blind; otherwise invalid
Blind and Void shares published beside every rate they would inflate
Blind added to the Outcome table (5.6.6); a Blind canary is a blind finding against the plan, not the DUT
16.2.5: per-clutch absence shares in Production Stream; degraded series state

Section 18, Integration Points: IP-1 Issuer, IP-2 Time Anchor, IP-3 Release Driver, IP-4 Ingress Observer, IP-5 Fingerprint Capture, IP-6 Proof Witness, IP-7 Liveness Prober, IP-8 Adjudicator, IP-9 Registry, IP-10 Signer
Component Fingerprint for every component; Interface Manifest published to the Registry before release
Separation rules between seams; the DUT has no seam and must not detect any
Conformance is claimed per seam as PP-SPEC-077 IP-n
Renumbered 18 to 21 as 19 to 22

Terminology: Registry, a PP-SPEC-004 (ProofRegister API) conformant ledger; public instance proofregister.com
9.6: every published artifact goes to a Registry; proofregister_uri required in Units of Proof and result series
Schema: proofregister_uri added and required
README: where results live

Section 5.6: three axes, Color, Path, Outcome, each set once at its own time
Colors: White, Gray, Red, Black, Gold; wild canaries stay outside the axes as their own evidence class
Gold reference canaries test the Vendor's written claims; Gold Missed is a Claim Finding (11.6)
Claim Accuracy Rate added to Section 12
Void, Undelivered, Sealed defined as outcomes; cadence defined as a Path field, not a color
5.4.1 effect tokens; 13.2 matching by token, Effect Point, and window; replay findings
Security Considerations: canary replay, test as cover
9.1 commitment binds color and path
Schema: color, path, effect_token, claim; top-level effect_point deprecated

Terminology: added Agent Under Test (AUT), an actor inside the SUT, not a control
Section 2.1: lineage now covers all four terms (SUT, DUT, CUT, AUT) as derived from Technical Marketing (2008)
Section 2.2: AUT added beside the DUT in the test hierarchy; new 2.2.5 states AUT is not an attribution level and points to PP-SPEC-078 (No Bros Jail Mode Protocol: The Jailed Canary Protocol)
Updated glossary, FAQ, README, CITATION

Added Section 16, Operating Modes: Bounded Mode and Production Stream Mode
Added Section 17, Technology Profiles for nine domains plus profile structure and implementation guidance
Section 9: fixed domain-separation tag in commitments, Merkle leaf and interior node prefixes, second-pulse rule and HKDF derivation for order seed
Terminology: roost, molt, clutch
Renumbered Execution, Security Considerations, Reserved, Interpretation to 18 through 21
Updated conformance, glossary, FAQ, README, CITATION, schema

Control Under Test (CUT) renamed Device Under Test (DUT) throughout, including schema fields dut and dut_fingerprint
Added Solution Under Test (SUT)
Added Section 2.1, Terminology Lineage, citing Technical Marketing (2008)

Added Section 15, Continuous Mode and Drift: CUT Fingerprint, stale results, trickle and triggered runs, silent drift, undeclared change, witness calibration, black hole drift, result series
Renumbered Execution, Security Considerations, Reserved, and Interpretation to 16 through 19
Updated conformance, glossary, overview, FAQ, README, CITATION, and schema

Renamed to Prooflock: The Dead Canary Protocol (PP-SPEC-077)
Swarm renamed Flock; probes renamed good and bad canaries; witness named Proof Witness
Added mutation and novelty scoring (Section 6)
Added embargoed canaries for undisclosed vulnerabilities (Section 7)
Added wild canaries (Section 13)
Added Witness Coverage Map (Section 14)