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Decentralized Proof-of-Location for Content Provenance: Towards Capture-Time Authenticity

Eduardo Brito, Fernando Castillo, Amnir Hadachi, Ulrich Norbisrath, Jonathan Heiss

Abstract

Reliable use of real-world data requires confidence that recorded evidence reflects what actually occurred at the moment of capture. In adversarial or incentive-misaligned cyber-physical settings, device-centric provenance and post-capture verification are insufficient to provide that guarantee. This paper builds on Proof-of-Location (PoL) as a baseline for establishing where and when events take place, and extends it with a witnessing-zone architecture in which multiple independent observers collectively validate physical events. The resulting approach produces auditable evidence artifacts that can support downstream systems in cyber-physical settings, without relying on centralized trust. Through representative scenarios and simulation-based evaluation, this paper shows how such architectures improve sensor data trustworthiness and resilience to fabricated or staged events.

Decentralized Proof-of-Location for Content Provenance: Towards Capture-Time Authenticity

Abstract

Reliable use of real-world data requires confidence that recorded evidence reflects what actually occurred at the moment of capture. In adversarial or incentive-misaligned cyber-physical settings, device-centric provenance and post-capture verification are insufficient to provide that guarantee. This paper builds on Proof-of-Location (PoL) as a baseline for establishing where and when events take place, and extends it with a witnessing-zone architecture in which multiple independent observers collectively validate physical events. The resulting approach produces auditable evidence artifacts that can support downstream systems in cyber-physical settings, without relying on centralized trust. Through representative scenarios and simulation-based evaluation, this paper shows how such architectures improve sensor data trustworthiness and resilience to fabricated or staged events.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 33 sections, 3 equations, 5 figures, 1 table, 1 algorithm.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Use Cases
  3. Agri-Commodity Containerization
  4. Media Provenance
  5. Smart Mobility
  6. Related Work
  7. Sensor- and Content-Level Authentication and Provenance
  8. Threat Landscape: Generative Manipulation and Scene Spoofing
  9. Cryptographic and Infrastructural Approaches to Trustworthy Sensing
  10. Proof-of-Location (PoL) Protocols and Architectures
  11. Bridging Spatial Proofs and Multimodal Provenance
  12. The Witnessing Zone: Baseline Model
  13. Zone Structure
  14. Interaction Model
  15. Identity Model
  16. ...and 18 more sections

Figures (5)

  • Figure 1: Baseline witnessing zone model. Witnesses form a synchronized mesh, attest to a prover's location, and collectively produce a location proof verified by an external verifier.
  • Figure 2: Augmented witnessing zone architecture. After distance bounding, each witness executes local sensing and policy-based reasoning before contributing to quorum formation.
  • Figure 3: Interval-bound interaction flow of the augmented witnessing zone.
  • Figure 4: Illustrative machine-readable admission policy for the Media deployment profile.
  • Figure 5: Admission probability heatmap of the simulation environment representing 4W and the theoretical effective witness zone for $d\leq20$ and $k\geq3$.