VSP Foundation
Open Protocol Standard

Verified Source Protocol

(VSP)

A mandatory, pre-interpretive governance layer that determines whether information is authoritative before it enters search engines, AI systems, or autonomous agents.

"Is this information permitted to enter the system as authoritative — and under whose declared, verifiable authority?"
Read the Specification Implementation Guidance
The Protocol

What the VSP Governs

The Verified Source Protocol governs authority, provenance, semantic determinism, and auditability in digital information systems. It operates between content production and interpretive systems — before ranking, before aggregation, before synthesis, before generation.

The VSP does not rank information. It does not determine truth. It does not replace search engines or AI systems. Its sole function is to govern whether a representation is structurally legitimate before any interpretive system processes it.

Raw Content Production
↓
VSP Governance Layer Provenance · Semantic Determinism · Auditability
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Interpretive Systems: Search · AI · Agents
Admissibility Conditions

The Four Conditions of Authoritative Representation

Before information is eligible for processing by any interpretive system, it must satisfy four structural conditions. Together, these conditions constitute admissibility under the Verified Source Protocol.

Provenance

The complete, inspectable chain of attribution from claim to originating source must be declared and verifiable.

Authority

The asserting entity must declare the scope of its authority. Authority cannot be inferred from visibility or engagement.

Admissibility

Claims must be expressible within a defined and bounded semantic framework. Ambiguity is a failure state, not an acceptable condition.

Auditability

Representations must be traceable over time. Authority decays without continuous audit. Historical states must remain inspectable.

Foundational Axioms

Five Axioms of the Protocol

The Verified Source Protocol is founded on five axioms. These are not negotiable and are not subject to implementation-level variation. Conformant implementations must operate in a manner consistent with all five.

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Specification and Guidance

Specification — VSP Version 1.0
The full normative specification. Permanent, stable, and immutable for Version 1.0. Includes axioms, constraints, conformance requirements, and baseline implementation rules.
Implementation Guidance
Non-normative guidance for implementers. Reference architecture, implementation approaches, and the admissibility flow lifecycle.
Governance
How the standard evolves. Versioning model, revision process, and stewardship responsibilities of the VSP Foundation.
About the VSP Foundation
What the Foundation is, what it does, and what it explicitly does not do. Intellectual lineage and relationship to the Search Sciences™ Research Programme.