How a record is kept

01 The locked date

When you file, the exact moment is stamped by an independent timestamp authority using RFC 3161 — the same standard behind signed software and notarised documents. The authority signs a fingerprint of your record together with the time, so the date can't be moved afterward by anyone, including us.

The timestamp proves when; the Proof Code below proves what. Together they show these exact words existed on this exact day. That's why the earlier your date, the more it proves — a late apology is easy; a dated one, locked the day you meant it, is not.

02 The Proof Code

Your Proof Code is a fingerprint of your exact words — a short code produced by running them through a one-way function (SHA-256). Change a single letter and the whole code changes; and it can't be turned back into your words.

To check it, click Verify on any record: your own browser re-runs the same function on the words on the page and compares. If they match, the record is word-for-word unchanged since the day it was sealed. The check happens on your device — you never have to trust us.

If your words are public — under your real name, an alias, or no name — anyone can run that check. If you kept your words private, only you hold the words, so only you can rebuild the code; the public still sees that a dated, sealed record exists, just not what it says.

03 The Internet Archive backup

Paid records are saved to the Internet Archive — the non-profit preserving 860 billion web pages since 1996. A snapshot is taken when you file, and Inscribed records are re-snapshotted every year.

That means your record survives even if Atonr's own servers do not. It lives in one of the most durable public archives humanity has built.

04 What can go wrong

Servers fail. Companies close. Links rot. We don't pretend otherwise — we build against each failure. The timestamp is independent of us. The Internet Archive copy is independent of us. The Proof Code is verifiable without us.

What if Atonr shuts down? Then the Wind-Down Protocol begins. We don't promise the company lasts forever — we promise the record does, through the chain, not the company: every paid record is timestamped and copied into the Internet Archive the moment you seal, and on wind-down we publish a final export anyone can keep.