Legal provenance authority · answer first
Bates Numbers Should Be Data, Not Ink
A visible Bates stamp helps humans, but structured production identity can also be searched, validated and exchanged without reading pixels from every page.
How UD approaches the problem
UDR preserves revision lineage while work changes. UDS binds verification to an exact final state. BrowserCarrier lets the resulting document travel as an offline-readable, zero-install HTML file.
Important limitation
Technical provenance does not decide authenticity, relevance, completeness or admissibility. External procedure, testimony, identity assurance and institutional records may still be required.
Authoritative context
- NIST IR 8387: Digital Evidence Preservation
- NIST chain-of-custody definition
- U.S. DOJ example ESI production specifications
- NARA electronic-record metadata requirements