skills/trooth-vendor-trust-check/references/provenance-labels.md

# Provenance labels on the Trooth Network

Every fact on a Trooth record carries a label for how it is known. Keep the label attached when you report the fact.

- Verified: a named human confirmed and domain control proven.
- Witnessed: read from live systems or public endpoints, with the source and the moment it was read.
- Vendor declared: the company's own account of itself. Declared is not witnessed; label it.
- Public-source: observed from public records or the company's public surfaces, with the source noted.
- Independent third-party: issued by an auditor, issuer, or registry, not the company or Trooth.
- Confirmed: a named counterparty attested under its own name.
- Customer reported: reported by a customer; kept distinct from measured data.

States that are answers, never blanks:
- Disputed: a party disputes the fact; the dispute and its status are shown.
- Stale: past its expected refresh; kept visible and labeled, not deleted.
- Unknown: no evidence either way. Unknown is an answer and is never counted against a company.