The nature of the service
This page does not explain the service: it declares it. It is the exact list of what Artheia records, of what this proves, and of what it does not prove, written down and dated.
What Artheia records
Artheia records a declaration of authorship made by the author of a work. Around that declaration it collects four things, and all four are required before a certificate can become public.
The identity of the person declaring
It is checked by a person at Artheia, reading the documents. Until it has been checked, that person cannot register anything.
Photographs of the work
The front, the back and the signature are required, and at least two detail shots. Up to six detail shots and up to six context shots can be added.
A signed document
The declaration is signed with a qualified electronic signature. The signature is applied outside Artheia, at the trust service provider chosen by the artist, which is also who establishes their identity.
A chip bound to that document
An NTAG 424 DNA chip applied to the object and bound to that certificate. Binding the chip is what makes a certificate public: there is no other route, and no Artheia panel can publish without it.
Authorship is declared by the author, not established by Artheia.
What this proves
Two things, and they must be kept apart because they carry different weight.
Who made the declaration
The document is signed with a qualified electronic signature. Who the signatory is is established by the provider that issues the signing certificate, not by Artheia, and that check travels inside the file: it holds even if Artheia is gone, and it holds against Artheia too. It is the strongest part of the product, and it is strong precisely because it does not depend on us.
That the chip on that object is the one bound to that certificate
The chip answers every tap with a code that changes each time and that only the correct keys can produce. It holds against someone trying to counterfeit the object, and it does not hold against Artheia, which put those keys there.
There are two ways to verify, and they prove two different things.
| Verification | What it proves | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Code typed on this site | That the certificate exists | Identifier, title, author, identity, date. No images, no document |
| Tap on the chip of the work | That the certificate is on that object | The full record, the images and the document, for a few minutes |
- Verification
- Code typed on this site
- What it proves
- That the certificate exists
- What it shows
- Identifier, title, author, identity, date. No images, no document
- Verification
- Tap on the chip of the work
- What it proves
- That the certificate is on that object
- What it shows
- The full record, the images and the document, for a few minutes
The reduced record is genuinely reduced: the data it does not show never reaches the viewer’s browser. Sending it and hiding it on the page would be theatre.
What this does not prove, and is not
Every item in this list says whether it is a choice, and will therefore stay true, or whether it is the state of things today, in which case it carries the date on which that was so.
By designIt is not an attribution
Artheia does not express opinions on the authenticity, the attribution or the value of a work, and does not carry out expert appraisals. A certificate proves that a declaration was made, by that person, on that date.
By designIt does not detect copies
A chip with the correct keys cannot be duplicated without those keys. But the tap log records nothing about whoever is verifying: no IP address, no browser, no session. So «the same person reloaded the page» and «two people hold the same link» are, for this register, the same fact. It is the direct price of not turning a register of works into a register of people, and it is a price Artheia chooses to pay.
By designProtecting the document is deterrence
The document opens for a few minutes, through a link that works once. Anyone who wants to, though, photographs the screen: the secret is not the document, it is the key inside the chip.
Today, 2026-09-21Identity checking is manual
A person at Artheia does it, reading the documents. There is no automated check of identity documents. It is slower, and it is why someone who has just registered cannot file anything yet.
Today, 2026-09-21The signature is not checked by Artheia
When the artist returns the signed document, Artheia checks that the file contains the draft unchanged, byte for byte. It does not check who signed it, nor whether that signing is effective: the proof of who signed sits inside the file and is given by the provider, not by us.
Today, 2026-09-21There is no time stamp, no electronic seal, no deposit with a preservation service
The full path of the document has thirteen steps and seven do not exist yet: validating the signature, the time stamp, checking the signed document, the electronic seal, the report of the checks, the deposit for long term preservation and the receipt for that deposit. Until those exist, the date the register carries is the date the register gave itself.
Today, 2026-09-21There is no anchoring to a distributed ledger
The database holds the columns that would be needed to record one, and no code writes them. If one day it exists, this page will say so with the date on which it started.
Artheia does not certify that a work is authentic, and no document produced by the platform should be presented as an attestation of authenticity. What this platform produces is documentation of declared authorship.
The obligations of whoever declares, the conditions of the service and the limits of liability are in the terms.
Terms of serviceLast updated