Status: Final
Version: 1.0
Scope: Verification, Identity, Presence
Audience: Public, Engineers, Auditors, Courts, Researchers
This repository contains the canonical definition, specification, legal framing, and public explanation of Presence-Bound Identity (PBI).
PBI is a new verification primitive that establishes a clean separation between:
- Truth — whether an artifact is real and unaltered
- Identity — who created it (kept private)
- Presence — whether that creator is physically present now
This is not an application, SDK, or library.
This is the foundational trust layer that such systems can be built on.
Presence-Bound Identity is a verification primitive in which:
- Artifacts are publicly verifiable without accounts or permission
- Identity is never embedded, stored, or transmitted
- Ownership (presence-resolved authorship) can only resolve through embodied human presence on a local device
- Impersonation is eliminated by construction, not detection
PBI does not authenticate accounts, sessions, or credentials.
PBI resolves presence.
Most systems today verify credentials (accounts, keys, badges).
That model fails when:
- credentials are copied,
- accounts are compromised,
- media can be perfectly faked,
- AI can impersonate anyone.
PBI replaces credential-based trust with presence-based verification.
You cannot copy presence.
You cannot forward presence.
You cannot replay presence.
This release pack is intentionally layered.
Each file has a distinct role and must be read in order.
The public statement of the primitive.
- Defines what PBI is
- States the core insight
- Explains the three-layer model
- Establishes the historical claim
This is the entry point.
The normative core of PBI.
- Formal definition
- Invariants that must always hold
- Compliance requirements
- Threat model
- Prohibited behaviors and UI states
Any system claiming PBI compliance must conform to this file.
The implementation-grade standard.
- Written in RFC style
- Uses normative language (MUST, MUST NOT, etc.)
- Defines lifecycle, flows, and state model
- Enables independent implementations without semantic drift
This is the file engineers build against.
Court-safe interpretation of PBI.
- Clarifies what PBI asserts and does not assert
- Explains evidentiary value
- Distinguishes PBI from biometric systems, accounts, and credentials
- Establishes non-equivalence boundaries
This file exists so PBI can be reasoned about without misclassification.
Plain-language explanation for non-technical readers.
- No jargon
- No hype
- No dilution
This file explains what PBI means without redefining it.
PBI compliance is binary.
A system is not PBI-compliant if it includes:
- accounts,
- logins,
- transferable keys,
- persistent sessions,
- centralized identity stores,
- server-side ownership resolution.
Claiming equivalence without meeting the invariants defined in
PBI-Appendices.md is materially misleading.
This repository is not:
- a product,
- a platform,
- a wallet,
- a biometric database,
- an identity provider,
- a reputation system.
It is the definition of a primitive.
This repository defines PBI-1.0.
Future versions may:
- add new artifact formats,
- add new proof systems,
- support additional device presence mechanisms.
Future versions must not:
- weaken presence,
- introduce accounts,
- introduce transferable ownership,
- introduce centralized identity.
When referencing this work, cite:
Presence-Bound Identity (PBI), Version 1.0 — Canonical Release Pack
For technical claims, reference:
PBI-Appendices.mdRFC-PBI-1.0.md
For legal interpretation, reference:
PBI-Legal.md
Presence-Bound Identity does not try to answer who someone is.
It answers a simpler and more reliable question:
Is the human who created this actually here — right now?
This repository defines the system that makes that question provable.