Definition

msp:authority declares who holds authority over a defined resource, channel, topic, operational boundary, or metadata scope. Authority may be held by a person, organization, or system.

The authority term is scope-bound. It should not be reduced to a flat status badge such as authoritative or verified, and it should not be treated as a trust guarantee, verification claim, ranking signal, or proof of correctness by itself.

Usage

Organization authority may be declared when an organization holds publishing, stewardship, or operational responsibility over a defined scope.

{
  "msp:authority": {
    "name": "MSP-1",
    "type": "Organization",
    "id": "https://msp-1.org/",
    "scope": "MSP-1 protocol documentation",
    "role": "publisher of record"
  }
}

Person authority may be declared when a human individual holds responsibility over a defined stewardship or decision-making scope.

{
  "msp:authority": {
    "name": "Mark Johnson",
    "type": "Person",
    "id": "mark-johnson",
    "scope": "MSP-1 protocol stewardship",
    "role": "protocol maintainer"
  }
}

System authority may be declared when a system has defined operational authority over a specific output or process.

{
  "msp:authority": {
    "name": "MSP-1 Validator",
    "type": "System",
    "id": "msp-1-validator",
    "scope": "MSP-1 metadata validation output",
    "role": "validation system"
  }
}

Guidance

• The authority declaration should be expressed as an object.
• The object should include name and type.
• A clear scope is strongly recommended to prevent overbroad interpretation.
• A stable id is strongly recommended for durable authority attribution.
• Authority should be interpreted only within the declared or reasonably implied scope.
• Authority should not imply global authority outside the declared resource, topic, jurisdiction, or operational boundary.

Deprecated compatibility note

The deprecated compliance term should not be emitted in new MSP-1 v1.0.1 declarations. Legacy flat-string authority values such as authoritative may receive advisory handling, but they should not be treated as sufficient authority metadata.

Related Terms