Discovery and Trust
Beacon helps users and workflows discover sources, Discovery Signals, canonical objects, Trust Statements, supporting references, and trust-related context.
Beacon · Trust
Trust
Beacon may help users discover trust-related information, but Beacon does not determine what should be trusted.
Trust remains a separate institutional function within the Satoshium Suite. Beacon publishes Discovery Signals and discovery metadata. Attestor owns Trust Statements.
Not Verification
Beacon does not verify claims, issue Certification Packages, establish certification authority, or determine accuracy. Certification and verification authority belongs to Certifier.
Not Trust Authority
Beacon does not issue Trust Statements, endorse conclusions, or independently determine trust. Attestor owns the Suite's Trust Statements and trust-assessment function.
Trust Signals
Beacon may publish Trust Signals that reference Attestor Trust Statements, attestation context, supporting references, and related trust metadata. The signal belongs to Beacon; the Trust Statement remains authoritative to Attestor.
Source Visibility
Trust-related discovery should preserve source attribution, provenance, traceability, stable identifiers, discovery context, and institutional authority whenever practical.
User Judgment
Beacon supports informed exploration, but users remain responsible for their own conclusions, interpretations, and decisions.
System Boundaries
Beacon → Discovery Signal / Metadata
Certifier → Certification Package
Attestor → Trust Statement
Certifier → Certification Package
Attestor → Trust Statement
These boundaries keep discovery, certification and verification, and trust assessment distinct while allowing governed references between their institution-owned objects.
Trust Authority Boundary
Beacon owns the Discovery Signals and discovery metadata it publishes. When Beacon references a Trust Statement, Attestor remains authoritative for that Trust Statement and its lifecycle.
Discovery does not become trust.
Reference does not transfer authority.
Reference does not transfer authority.
Trust Philosophy
Visibility should not be confused with validity.
Discovery should not be confused with verification.
Verification should not be confused with trust.
Discovery should not be confused with verification.
Verification should not be confused with trust.
Beacon helps locate information relevant to trust and may signal the existence or relevance of a Trust Statement, but does not become the trust authority for what it discovers.
Beacon's Role
Beacon's role remains focused: perform discovery and publish Discovery Signals and discovery metadata that preserve the path to relevant sources and canonical objects.
Find the signal. Preserve the source. Reference the Trust Statement.
Reference does not transfer authority.
Back to Beacon →
Reference does not transfer authority.