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Watchers independently look for duplicity, such as two conflicting versions of the same KEL.",[149,150],"video-embed",{":autoplay":151,":muted":152,":playlist":153},"true","false","[{\"url\":\"\u002Fconfs\u002FKERI\u002F2026\u002Fapr\u002Ftalks\u002FThomas Mayfield ｜ KERI Infrastructure & the 5 W's ｜ KERI Conference 2026.mp4\",\"bumper\":\"Thomas Mayfield - witnesses as notaries\",\"subtitles\":\"\u002Fconfs\u002FKERI\u002F2026\u002Fapr\u002Ftalks\u002FThomas Mayfield ｜ KERI Infrastructure & the 5 W's ｜ KERI Conference 2026.srt\",\"volume\":4,\"start\":\"6:35\",\"stop\":\"7:21\"},{\"url\":\"\u002Fconfs\u002FKERI\u002F2026\u002Fapr\u002Ftalks\u002FThomas Mayfield ｜ KERI Infrastructure & the 5 W's ｜ KERI Conference 2026.mp4\",\"bumper\":\"Thomas Mayfield - watchers detect duplicity\",\"subtitles\":\"\u002Fconfs\u002FKERI\u002F2026\u002Fapr\u002Ftalks\u002FThomas Mayfield ｜ KERI Infrastructure & the 5 W's ｜ KERI Conference 2026.srt\",\"volume\":4,\"start\":\"7:21\",\"stop\":\"8:04\"},{\"url\":\"\u002Fconfs\u002FKERI\u002F2026\u002Fapr\u002Ftalks\u002FThomas Mayfield ｜ KERI Infrastructure & the 5 W's ｜ KERI Conference 2026.mp4\",\"bumper\":\"Thomas Mayfield - verify for yourself\",\"subtitles\":\"\u002Fconfs\u002FKERI\u002F2026\u002Fapr\u002Ftalks\u002FThomas Mayfield ｜ KERI Infrastructure & the 5 W's ｜ KERI Conference 2026.srt\",\"volume\":4,\"start\":\"8:04\",\"stop\":\"8:15\"},{\"url\":\"\u002Fconfs\u002FKERI\u002F2026\u002Fapr\u002Ftalks\u002FRyan Hansen ｜ Witnesses & Watchers ｜ KERI Conference 2026.mp4\",\"bumper\":\"Ryan Hansen - witness and watcher infrastructure\",\"subtitles\":\"\u002Fconfs\u002FKERI\u002F2026\u002Fapr\u002Ftalks\u002FRyan Hansen ｜ Witnesses & Watchers ｜ KERI Conference 2026.srt\",\"start\":\"15:58\",\"stop\":\"16:40\"}]",[155,156,158],"h2",{"id":157},"summary","Summary",[160,161],"handwritten-note",{"text":162},"Witnesses help publish and receipt your events. Watchers help detect conflicting histories. Neither one owns your AID or replaces your keys.",[155,164,166],{"id":165},"what-the-clips-cover","What the clips cover",[168,169,170,177,183,189],"ul",{},[171,172,173,176],"li",{},[141,174,175],{},"Thomas Mayfield - witnesses as notaries."," Witnesses are designated services that receive, sign, and republish key events. They provide availability and receipts, and the controller chooses them.",[171,178,179,182],{},[141,180,181],{},"Thomas Mayfield - watchers detect duplicity."," Watchers observe for conflicting KEL histories. Their job is detection, not issuing identities or deciding key state by consensus.",[171,184,185,188],{},[141,186,187],{},"Thomas Mayfield - verify for yourself."," Watchers help turn \"trust me\" into \"verify for yourself.\"",[171,190,191,194],{},[141,192,193],{},"Ryan Hansen - witness and watcher infrastructure."," The conference demo shows these as deployable infrastructure components around KERI, not as a central authority.",[155,196,198],{"id":197},"why-it-matters","Why it matters",[138,200,201],{},"Confusing witnesses with validators makes KERI look like another consensus system. KERI's authority model is different: the AID's key events establish state, witnesses make those events reachable and receipted, and watchers help verifiers detect inconsistent histories.",[155,203,205],{"id":204},"sources","Sources",[168,207,208,217],{},[171,209,210],{},[211,212,216],"a",{"href":213,"rel":214},"https:\u002F\u002Fmedium.com\u002Ffinema\u002Fthe-hitchhikers-guide-to-keri-part-2-what-exactly-is-keri-e46a649ac54c",[215],"nofollow","The Hitchhiker's Guide to KERI, Part 2",[171,218,219],{},[211,220,223],{"href":221,"rel":222},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.lfdecentralizedtrust.org\u002Fblog\u002Fa-day-in-your-life-with-keri",[215],"A Day in your Life with KERI",{"title":225,"searchDepth":226,"depth":226,"links":227},"",2,[228,229,230,231],{"id":157,"depth":226,"text":158},{"id":165,"depth":226,"text":166},{"id":197,"depth":226,"text":198},{"id":204,"depth":226,"text":205},true,"2026-07-01","KERI witnesses and watchers support availability and verification, but they do not own or issue the identifier.","md",null,{},4,{"title":125,"description":234},"aYPGGqr9kPo2HoEqrKOHPtlphR6ZsRWBO781mOQzu2s",[242,236],{"title":121,"path":122,"stem":123,"description":243,"children":-1},"KERI separates the identifier from any one device or wallet by using recoverable key state and pre-rotation.",1791282196208]