# Verification of Continuity Claims **Domain:** Continuity / Verification / Personal Identity **Doc Type:** Method Node **Classification:** Evidence Router **Maturity:** Developed **Related:** [[wiki/Continuity Registry|Continuity Registry]], [[wiki/Continuity Provenance|Continuity Provenance]], [[wiki/Continuity Evidence Ladder|Continuity Evidence Ladder]] --- ## Verification Layers **Verification of Continuity Claims** separates questions that are often collapsed into a single assertion that a continuant is “authentic”: 1. **Source identity:** which person or state is claimed as the predecessor? 2. **Authority:** who authorized capture, transfer, restoration or representation? 3. **Lineage:** does a documented causal chain connect source and claimant? 4. **State integrity:** are the preserved components complete, untampered and interpretable? 5. **Behavioral fidelity:** does the claimant reproduce source-relevant capacities and dispositions? 6. **Phenomenal status:** is there evidence of a conscious subject or moral patient? 7. **Numerical identity:** is the claimant literally the same person? ## Governing Rule Evidence can be strong at one layer and weak at another. A valid signature can establish that a custodian signed a manifest without proving that its contents are truthful. Behavioral fidelity can support reconstruction quality without proving lineage. Perfect lineage can prove descent without proving consciousness or numerical identity. ## Decision Use Registries should publish claim type, evidence class, confidence, conflicts and failure conditions. They should never convert “verified artifact,” “authorized successor” or “high-fidelity model” into “same person” by interface design. ## Sources - [NIST SP 800-63-4 — Digital Identity Guidelines](https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-4/sp800-63.html) - [C2PA Specifications — content provenance and authenticity](https://spec.c2pa.org/) ## See Also [[wiki/Forensic Identity Attestation|Forensic Identity Attestation]] · [[wiki/Testability and Failure Criteria for Continuity Architecture|Testability and Failure Criteria for Continuity Architecture]] · [[wiki/Continuity Evidence vs Continuity|Continuity Evidence vs Continuity]]