{
  "id": "evidence-taxonomy",
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "version": "1.1.0",
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "updated": "2026-10-09",
  "last_reviewed": null,
  "canonical_url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/data/evidence-taxonomy.json",
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "interaction-conversation",
      "name": "Interaction / conversation evidence",
      "examples": "Prompts, responses, branches, regeneration records, uploads, and tool-result messages.",
      "context": "A transcript, application export, or acquired conversation store may represent only one view of an interaction.",
      "persistence": "Edits, account deletion, retention settings, and export selection may omit earlier turns or branches.",
      "corroboration": "Compare message identifiers, attachments, browser records, and independently acquired service records.",
      "caution": "A saved prompt does not show all context presented to the model or establish a person’s intent.",
      "field": "interaction-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#interaction-conversation",
      "field_url": "/fields/interaction-forensics/"
    },
    {
      "id": "device-browser",
      "name": "Device / browser evidence",
      "examples": "History, caches, IndexedDB, LocalStorage, SessionStorage, downloaded files, and operating-system traces.",
      "context": "A device or browser profile can connect use of an interface with local activity.",
      "persistence": "Private sessions, eviction, profile changes, synchronization, and clearing can affect availability.",
      "corroboration": "Compare browser navigation with network observations, local downloads, and account-side events.",
      "caution": "A visit to a service is not evidence that a particular output was generated or viewed.",
      "field": "ai-artifact-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#device-browser",
      "field_url": "/fields/ai-artifact-forensics/"
    },
    {
      "id": "ai-application",
      "name": "AI application evidence",
      "examples": "SQLite databases, JSON records, logs, session files, configuration, model selections, and attachments.",
      "context": "Application state may expose relationships unavailable in a screenshot or rendered transcript.",
      "persistence": "Schema migrations, caching, deletion, and synchronization can change records between versions.",
      "corroboration": "Use controlled tests with the same version; compare exports, application state, and external effects.",
      "caution": "A field name is not a verified meaning. No application-specific artifact locations are asserted here.",
      "field": "ai-artifact-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#ai-application",
      "field_url": "/fields/ai-artifact-forensics/"
    },
    {
      "id": "agent-action",
      "name": "Agent / action evidence",
      "examples": "Task records, tool calls, delegated-agent identifiers, shell output, API responses, and filesystem changes.",
      "context": "An agent can affect systems beyond its own conversation interface.",
      "persistence": "Tool logs and external system retention often differ; transient state may disappear at task termination.",
      "corroboration": "Correlate tool identifiers with file hashes, system logs, API audit events, and network evidence.",
      "caution": "A proposed action is not an executed action; a tool result is not always proof of the final external state.",
      "field": "agent-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#agent-action",
      "field_url": "/fields/agent-forensics/"
    },
    {
      "id": "synthetic-media",
      "name": "Synthetic-media evidence",
      "examples": "Images, audio, video, generated text, codec data, embedded metadata, and derivative files.",
      "context": "Content may be generated, AI-assisted, edited, composited, or captured from another surface.",
      "persistence": "Transcoding, cropping, screenshotting, recompression, and sharing can remove signals and metadata.",
      "corroboration": "Seek original files, project records, source assets, authenticated provenance, and creation-side records.",
      "caution": "Detector scores do not establish provenance. Artifacts can also arise from ordinary editing or compression.",
      "field": "synthetic-media-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#synthetic-media",
      "field_url": "/fields/synthetic-media-forensics/"
    },
    {
      "id": "provenance",
      "name": "Provenance evidence",
      "examples": "Manifests, signed assertions, Content Credentials, certificates, transformation records, and watermarks.",
      "context": "A provenance record describes selected relationships or claims about content and workflow.",
      "persistence": "Records may be embedded, external, incomplete, stripped, or unavailable to an examiner.",
      "corroboration": "Validate bindings and signatures; compare signer trust, referenced ingredients, and independent records.",
      "caution": "A valid signature supports a signed claim’s integrity within its trust model, not the truth of every claim.",
      "field": "provenance-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#provenance",
      "field_url": "/fields/provenance-forensics/"
    },
    {
      "id": "network",
      "name": "Network evidence",
      "examples": "DNS, proxy, firewall, packet captures, request metadata, and service connection logs.",
      "context": "Traffic can support timing and endpoints of interactions or agent actions.",
      "persistence": "Encrypted payloads, log rotation, shared infrastructure, and collection gaps limit visibility.",
      "corroboration": "Compare request identifiers, endpoint logs, device activity, and application event times.",
      "caution": "A connection rarely proves content, user identity, or completion without additional records.",
      "field": "agent-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#network",
      "field_url": "/fields/agent-forensics/"
    },
    {
      "id": "account-cloud",
      "name": "Account / cloud evidence",
      "examples": "Authorized exports, access logs, sessions, workspace audit events, stored attachments, and sharing records.",
      "context": "Remote state may differ from the local device and may cover multiple users or devices.",
      "persistence": "Provider retention, account state, tenancy, region, and export scope affect completeness.",
      "corroboration": "Connect account events to acquired devices, independently captured identifiers, and access histories.",
      "caution": "An account association does not establish which human controlled a session at a particular time.",
      "field": "synthetic-identity-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#account-cloud",
      "field_url": "/fields/synthetic-identity-forensics/"
    },
    {
      "id": "model-configuration",
      "name": "Model / configuration evidence",
      "examples": "Model identifiers, deployment settings, version records, lineage, fine-tuning records, and legitimately acquired weights.",
      "context": "A deployment can combine a base model, adapters, retrieval, policies, and tools.",
      "persistence": "Providers can change aliases; historical settings and unavailable weights constrain reconstruction.",
      "corroboration": "Compare deployment records, model file digests, registry data, and documented change histories.",
      "caution": "A model label is a claim about a deployment. Output style is insufficient for certain model identification.",
      "field": "model-forensics",
      "url": "https://syntheticforensics.org/evidence/#model-configuration",
      "field_url": "/fields/model-forensics/"
    }
  ]
}