FAQ
Plain answers about how Veracium verifies live video from journalists in the field — and where we’re honest about the limits.
How do I know who’s really behind a stream?
Journalists work under a cover name — a pseudonymous ID such as MMJ-XXXXXXXXXXXX. The mapping to a real identity is held only by Veracium and kept separate from the field side. As an editor you get a verified source without ever exposing who they are.
Honest: this is built to protect the journalist. You’re trusting Veracium’s verification layer, not a name you already recognize.The journalist is someone I’ve never met — how can the footage be “verified”?
Every clip carries a digital seal created on the device itself: a SHA-256 fingerprint over location, time and device ID, plus a chain-of-custody certificate you can check publicly without an account. Location is fuzzed to protect the source.
So verification rides on the data and its trail — not on personal acquaintance.How do you catch fakes or deepfakes?
Every stream runs through an AI and deepfake analysis (Anthropic Claude Vision) that produces an ai_score and a deepfake_score editors can see.
Honest: no detector is perfect. This flags risk — it is not a 100% guarantee. Hardware signing (Secure Enclave / StrongBox) and blockchain anchoring are planned to strengthen this further.What protects this from hackers?
On-device sealing, pseudonymous IDs with the real mapping stored separately, one-time tokens issued per assignment, a dead-man protocol and a duress PIN, EU hosting in Frankfurt, PostgreSQL encrypted at rest, and TLS 1.3.
Honest: no system is 100% secure. Veracium follows Kerckhoffs’s principle and publishes its architecture so it can be scrutinized. An independent audit (CPJ / RSF / EFF) has been invited but has not happened yet.Could content still be staged even though it’s “verified”?
Yes. Verification proves where, when and on which device a clip was captured, and that it wasn’t altered afterwards. It does not prove the intent behind what’s in frame.
Editorial judgement still applies. Veracium gives you a trustworthy provenance layer — not a truth oracle.How mature is the platform, and how are journalists protected?
Live today: metadata seal, pseudonymous IDs, GPS fuzzing, one-time tokens, dead-man / duress protocol, AI deepfake analysis, publicly verifiable chain-of-custody certificates, live streaming (LiveKit WebRTC), EU hosting, and an organisation tier system with Trust & Safety review.
Planned: hardware ECDSA signatures, RFC-3161 timestamps and Polygon anchoring (Phase 1), face/voice blur (Phase 2), SOC 2 Type I (Q4 2026) and a GDPR DPA.
Public beta launches August 2026.More questions
Who is Veracium for?
Two roles: Journalists in the field (TV, video, multimedia, mobile, creative & citizen) and Editors commissioning footage (newsrooms, broadcasters, press agencies, NGOs, human-rights organisations). See the full flow on How it works.
Is the captured material court-admissible?
Every capture ships with a standalone PDF + JSON certificate (hash chain, AI analysis, assignment context). Legal-tier customers additionally get a court-format chain-of-custody export.
What does it cost?
Free for pilot customers during the testing and early-beta phase (through launch, August 2026). In regular operation, Veracium is funded through a commission of approximately 20 % per verified transaction between editor and journalist. No subscriptions, no advertising, no data resale.
How do I join the closed pilot?
Editors and journalists alike: get in touch. Identity verification for journalists happens once, through the blind-intermediary layer.
We update this FAQ regularly with your questions. Got one we haven’t answered yet? Send it to our team and we’ll add it.