Tamper Evidence

Definition

Tamper Evidence examines detecting and communicating unauthorised modification without claiming impossible certainty within the broader domain of the origin, authorship, transformation history, custody and authenticity of digital content, media and credentials.

Why this matters

Tamper Evidence can materially affect autonomy, safety, public trust, market integrity, community cohesion and institutional decisions. Poorly designed interventions can suppress legitimate speech, entrench bias or create false confidence.

Research questions

Under which conditions can detecting and communicating unauthorised modification without claiming impossible certainty be measured or improved reliably, and how do effects vary by platform, population, context and intervention?

Hypotheses

A transparent, context-aware approach combining provenance, behavioural evidence and accountable human review will improve tamper detection and explanation more than single-score, content-only or opaque automated approaches.

Proposed methods

content credential testing; cryptographic verification; metadata resilience analysis; media forensics; chain-of-custody audits; user comprehension testing; adversarial tampering; expert review; affected-user interviews; reproducibility testing; methods adapted specifically to Tamper Evidence

Stakeholders and beneficiaries

media organisations; creators; courts; regulators; researchers; platforms; credential issuers; archives; law enforcement; the public