Frequently asked questions
The answers below concern the commercial operating licence for Gankpo Suite.
"Licence" means two different things. Which?
The open source licence governs reuse of the verification core's source code. It concerns developers, auditors and integrators. It is public and is not subscribed to.
The commercial operating licence governs the right to operate Gankpo Suite within an organisation. That is what these pages and the licence portal are about.
The two coexist without overlapping. Reading the code grants no operating right; holding an operating right imposes no constraint on reuse of the published code.See the open source position
Does my licence prove that I signed a document?
No, deliberately so. A licence attests an operating right, not an act of signing. Personal signature belongs to the signer's Wallet; an organisation's seal is a distinct authority, exercised explicitly. A verifier checking a document does not consult the licence of the machine that produced it.
Does the licence server know what I sign?
No. It knows about licences and authorised instances. It holds neither the content of documents, nor their fingerprint, nor their recipients, nor their number. This absence is not a stated policy: the corresponding data has no place in the system.
What if I change machine?
An instance is tied to a machine and is never transposed. Retire the old instance — which frees a slot — then declare the new one. The same instance key can never be attached to two machines.
What if my right is suspended?
All of its instances are effectively suspended, whatever their own status. The displayed status always reflects this: an instance can never appear more favourable than the right that carries it.
Can I transfer my licence to another entity?
Yes, an active or suspended operating right can be transferred. Identity verifications, however, do not follow: the new holder starts again at level I0, "declared identity, not attested". Verification concerns a person or an organisation, not a contract — it is not assignable.
Will my name appear as "attested"?
Only if a fact establishes it. Every holder starts at level I0: "declared identity, not attested". Signing up records a declaration, nothing more.
Confirming an email address does not change that level: it proves you control a mailbox, not that you are the entity you declare. Moving up the scale requires a real check — legal registry, authority document — timestamped and attributed to whoever performed it.
From I2 upwards, the attesting authority is named. An attestation that does not say on whose behalf it is made attests nothing: in that case the display steps back down rather than implying otherwise.
Is there a free edition?
Reading and verifying documents requires no operating licence. This is an architectural principle: a document's evidentiary value must not depend on any payment by the person receiving it.