Research / 02 · Evidence scope and data provenance
Research as at
7 May 2026
Corroborated by the AEMC public record · 7 May 2026Scope, provenance and the limits of proportionate disclosure in computational-load evidence.
Abstract
Evidence about a computational facility need not expose every aspect of it, but it must preserve enough context to answer its stated question. This paper establishes three limits on how far a summary can be reduced. An average computed over partial coverage is not an average of the period it appears to describe: the same figure of 14 MW is consistent with a true hourly average of 13 MW or 18 MW, depending on one missing quarter-hour. Provenance describes derivation, not truth — it establishes neither the accuracy of the instruments nor the coverage of the interval, and the word verified collapses two separate uncertainties into one. And withholding material as confidential leaves the proposition it would have addressed unresolved; it does not establish it. Proportionality is a question about which context is load-bearing, not about file size.
Provenance & verification
Each file is published with a fixed fingerprint and independent timestamps. The commands below reproduce the checks.
Integrity — SHA-256
sha256sum -c CANUS_Research_02_Accountable_Delivery_Records.pdf.sha256
Confirms the download is byte-for-byte the published file.
Timestamp — RFC-3161
openssl ts -verify -in CANUS_Research_02_Accountable_Delivery_Records.pdf.tsr -data CANUS_Research_02_Accountable_Delivery_Records.pdf \ -CAfile freetsa-cacert.pem -untrusted freetsa-tsa.crt
An independent authority (FreeTSA) signed the file's hash. 'Verification: OK' means the exact file existed no later than the token's timestamp.
Timestamp — OpenTimestamps
ots verify CANUS_Research_02_Accountable_Delivery_Records.pdf.ots
A Bitcoin-anchored record, once the calendar confirms it into a block.
Each file is published unaltered and independently notarised; the exact notarisation time is contained in the downloadable token. Dates are evidenced by the public records each paper cites, not by file metadata.
References & cited records
CANUS Technologies — Submission to the Australian Energy Market Commission: Improving the NEM Access Standards, Package 2 (ERC0394).
W3C — PROV-DM: The PROV Data Model. W3C Recommendation.
NIST — Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations, SP 800-53 revision 5.
IETF — Internet X.509 PKI Time-Stamp Protocol (TSP), RFC 3161.