◎ OS PUB Apache 2.0 ← All specifications

P173 — AIEP — Evidence Redaction and Privacy Compliance Protocol

Publication Date: 2026-04-12 Status: Open Source Prior Art Disclosure Licence: Apache License 2.0 Author/Organisation: Phatfella Ltd Schema: AIEP_OS_SPEC_TEMPLATE v1.0.1 — https://aiep.dev/schemas/aiep-os-spec-template/v1.0.1

Field of the Invention

[0001] The disclosure relates to evidence redaction and privacy compliance frameworks for evidence management systems.

[0002] More particularly, the disclosure concerns an evidence redaction and privacy compliance protocol for use within an Architected Instruction and Evidence Protocol (AIEP) system, defining how evidence artefacts are redacted in response to legal, regulatory, or governance obligations while preserving the structural integrity of the provenance chain.

Framework Context

[0003] This invention operates within an Architected Instruction and Evidence Protocol (AIEP) environment as defined in United Kingdom patent application number GB2519711.2, filed 20 November 2025, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Summary of the Disclosure

[0004] A computer-implemented evidence redaction and privacy compliance protocol comprises: accepting a RedactionRequest carrying: artefact_id, requesting_authority, legal_basis_code, and redaction_scope; validating the RedactionRequest against a deployment-configured PrivacyCompliancePolicy specifying recognised legal_basis_codes and minimum authority levels; if validation passes, producing a RedactedArtefact in which specified fields are replaced with a RedactionTombstone containing redaction_reason, legal_basis_code, redacting_authority_id, and redaction_timestamp; preserving the original EDID and provenance hash chain from the pre-redaction artefact to the RedactedArtefact, linking them via a RedactionProvenanceRecord; flagging the original artefact as REDACTED to prevent future citation or reasoning context inclusion; providing a RedactionAuditRecord for governance review; and on right-of-erasure requests, executing PermanentErasureProof comprising deletion of content and generation of a non-reversible ErasureRecord.

[0005] Redaction is an irreversible evidence state transition.

[0006] The technical effect is modification of computing system behaviour by embedding privacy-compliance obligations into the evidence state machine, ensuring governed redaction workflows that preserve audit integrity under legal obligation.

Claims

[0007] A computer-implemented method for evidence redaction and privacy compliance comprising: validating RedactionRequests against PrivacyCompliancePolicies; producing RedactedArtefacts with RedactionTombstones; preserving provenance chains via RedactionProvenanceRecords; flagging originals as REDACTED; maintaining RedactionAuditRecords; and executing PermanentErasureProof for right-of-erasure obligations.

[0008] A system for evidence redaction and privacy compliance comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions to execute the method of claim 1.