This repository is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
Full licence text: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software and documentation distributed under this licence is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
Copyright (c) 2025-2026 Jonathan M. Watson
Original author: Jonathan M. Watson Repository: https://github.com/JonathanMastersWatson/Evidence-Sidecar
The Cryptographic Verification Sidecar (CVS) architecture follows an open commons model.
512 Constraint Set The 512 constraint set is a discovered constraint. It is not owned by any person or entity. It cannot be licensed. No permission is required to build systems that satisfy its properties.
CVS Base Architecture The CVS base architecture described in this repository is released under Apache License 2.0. It is open infrastructure. No single entity may claim ownership of the base architecture. Anyone may use, modify, and distribute it freely under Apache 2.0 terms.
CVS Derivatives Implementations, managed services, SLA wrappers, interpretation tools, and industry-specific deployments built on top of this architecture are ownable and commercialisable by their authors. Apache 2.0 requires attribution but does not restrict commercial use.
This repository describes a neutral, open reference architecture for independent evidentiary systems. It is published for informational and architectural purposes only.
This document does not constitute legal, regulatory, financial, insurance, or professional advice.
To the maximum extent permitted under applicable law, this architecture and associated documentation are provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without any express or implied warranty, including but not limited to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, regulatory compliance, insurance eligibility, performance, or outcome guarantees.
All implementation risk rests solely with the deploying organisation.
CVS produces cryptographic evidence of execution observation.
CVS does not:
- guarantee correctness of observed systems
- guarantee compliance with legal or regulatory requirements
- guarantee insurance eligibility, premium reduction, or underwriting outcomes
- guarantee dispute resolution success
- certify legal sufficiency of evidence produced
The distinction between cryptographic evidence and legal sufficiency is material. CVS establishes the former. It does not determine the latter.
Each deploying organisation is solely responsible for:
- system design decisions
- coverage completeness declarations
- key custody and rotation
- settlement wallet management
- representations made to regulators, insurers, and legal counterparties
The author(s) do not operate production systems for third parties, custody funds, sign attestation keys for third parties, certify coverage completeness, or provide compliance assurance.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the author(s), contributors, and publishers shall not be liable for direct damages, indirect damages, consequential damages, regulatory penalties, insurance claim denial, business interruption, or data loss arising from use, misuse, or reliance upon this architecture.
This notice does not alter conformance requirements.
An implementation may be fully CVS-Conforming and still fail to satisfy legal, regulatory, or insurance requirements specific to its jurisdiction or deployment context.
CVS-Conformance establishes that an implementation behaves as the architecture requires. It does not establish that the behaviour is legally sufficient for any particular purpose.
This repository is not written for any specific jurisdiction. It does not assert applicability under any particular regulatory regime. Interpretation and application may vary by jurisdiction.
CVS is an invented witness architecture. 512 is a discovered constraint.
These are different things with different licensing postures. CVS (Apache 2.0) may be used independently of 512. Systems may satisfy 512's properties without using CVS.
The distinction between discovered constraint (512) and invented architecture (CVS) is architecturally and legally significant.