Sidebar exports
Check a Sidebar export
Add the PDF to check the copy you have, record by record. Or type the code from the foot of any page to check Sidebar's records.
Checked on this device. The file is never uploaded.
and the code
Certificate of verification
- Dates
- Messages
- Pages
Holding a printed copy? Check that its dates, message count and page count match these. A printout's words can only be checked against the PDF.
It doesn't show who was holding the phone, or the exact minute a message was sent.
- Records fingerprint (SHA-256), also on the PDF's first page
- The export's file SHA-256
- SHA-256 of the file you added
See every record and its timestamp
- Nothing is uploadedThe PDF is read on this device. A code shows no messages and no names.
- Messages can't be editedOnce sent, neither parent can change or delete a message, reaction, Seen time or request.
- Checkable for 18 yearsSidebar keeps the thread for 18 years after its last message, even if both parents delete their accounts.
What this checks, and what it doesn't
A code checks Sidebar's records, not the copy you're holding: a code can be copied onto another document. Adding the PDF checks the copy: its SHA-256 should be the export's, and the proofs inside it are checked record by record.
Every export carries proofs that each of its records was anchored in public: about every hour, a fingerprint of every new record goes into one fingerprint that's timestamped by Bitcoin and by two timestamping authorities. To check them, this page sends only each Bitcoin block's number, and then its hash, to two public block explorers (mempool.space and blockstream.info), and the anchored roots, which are public, to Sidebar's list of anchored roots, to confirm they're Sidebar's and for their latest timestamps.
Only what went through Sidebar's servers is in an export: each message as it was sent, with its Seen times, reactions and their changes, and the files sent, listed; change requests, proposed schedules and requests to take a child off the list, with their answers; the children's details as the parents saved them; and a parent joining. When it was made, Sidebar kept a fingerprint of those records. Checking reads them again and compares.
The proofs inside a PDF are checked differently: on this device, against Sidebar's public list of anchored roots, Bitcoin's block headers and the timestamping authorities' certificates. A record that checks existed, exactly as shown, by the time its hourly period was timestamped, and hasn't changed since. A period can cover records written well before it (the first covered every record from before anchoring began), so it doesn't show when a message was sent, and it doesn't show who wrote it. Every anchored fingerprint and its timestamps are on the list of anchored roots.
Checking a code shows nothing of the messages themselves and no one's name: only what's needed to check the export. Checking the proofs inside a PDF shows the records that file holds, here on this device, so you can compare them with its pages. Questions? Write to support@phynk.com.