Anchored roots

Proof that Sidebar's records haven't been changed

Every hour, Sidebar seals a fingerprint of everything new and timestamps it in public. If a message is ever questioned, its export can be checked against this list.

How it works

  1. 1 · Every hourNew records are fingerprintedEach message, reaction and request gets a fingerprint, salted so it reveals nothing.
  2. 2 · One rootThey're combined into a rootOne fingerprint for the whole hour. Change any record and the root no longer matches.
  3. 3 · Sealed in publicThe root is timestampedBy the Bitcoin blockchain (through OpenTimestamps) and two independent authorities, DigiCert and Sectigo.

Why it matters in court

Every export carries proofs linking each of its records to one of these roots. A record that checks existed exactly as shown by the time its root was timestamped, and hasn't changed since. Neither parent, nor Phynk, can alter it afterwards without the check failing.

It doesn't show who was holding the phone, or the exact minute a message was sent: only that a record existed by a certain hour.

Why you can trust it

The timestamps don't rest on Phynk. Each root is recorded in the Bitcoin blockchain and signed by DigiCert and Sectigo, and anyone can check those with public tools. This list is how you know a root is Sidebar's.

A root reveals nothing about any family: no names, no words, not even how many records it holds. An hour with nothing new has no root.

Every root, newest first

Check an export against these →
HourSealedRootBitcoinDigiCertSectigo

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Check a root yourself

Download a root's files from the list above, then check them with the official tools. Neither needs anything from Phynk.

# Bitcoin, with the OpenTimestamps client (pip install opentimestamps-client)
ots --no-bitcoin verify -d <root> <root>.ots
# It names a Bitcoin block and the merkle root that block must have:
# compare it at any block explorer. With your own Bitcoin node, drop --no-bitcoin.

# Each authority's token, with OpenSSL
openssl ts -verify -digest <root> -in digicert.tsr -CAfile digicert-trusted-root-g4.pem
openssl ts -verify -digest <root> -in sectigo.tsr -CAfile usertrust-rsa-certification-authority.pem

The authorities' root certificates: DigiCert Trusted Root G4 · USERTrust RSA (Sectigo). A check of an export does all of this for you, on your device, at phynk.com/verify.