Why my evidence logs use two clocks: building AETHER-0

Tiffany Greene — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 07:49:02 +0000

Most logging systems stamp an event with one wall-clock time and move on. That's fine for debugging. It isn't enough when someone may later ask a court to accept a log as evidence.

AETHER-0 is my portfolio project: a telemetry verification engine that brings legal evidence standards and systems engineering together. This post covers three design decisions behind it.

1. Two clocks, one hash

Wall clocks can jump. NTP corrections, manual changes and leap handling can all move UTC time backward or forward. A monotonic clock (performance.now()) never goes backward, but on its own it doesn't tell you the date.

AETHER-0 records both for each event:

Primary monotonic clock: gives ordering and elapsed time you can trust.
Secondary UTC wall clock: gives a human-readable anchor in real time.

Both values are sealed into the event's SHA-256 digest at capture. If someone edits either timestamp afterward, the hash no longer matches.

Full guide: https://aether-0.lovable.app/docs/dual-clock-timestamps

2. FRE 902(13) vs 902(14): two rules, two questions

Under the US Federal Rules of Evidence, certain records can be self-authenticating if a qualified person certifies them.

902(13) covers a record generated by an electronic process or system: is this what the system actually produced?
902(14) covers data copied from a device or file: does this copy match the original? Hash comparison answers that.

AETHER-0 issues one bifurcated certificate that addresses both: the capture-time seal for 902(13), and the digest match for 902(14).

Full guide: https://aether-0.lovable.app/docs/fre-902-13-vs-14

3. Zero retention

The safest personal data is data you never keep. AETHER-0 runs in volatile memory only: no unencrypted, client-identifiable content is persisted, and the spec includes a duress protocol that zeroizes keys and wipes buffers immediately.

Even the built-in AI assistant follows this rule. It stores no chats, logs no messages, and answers only from the published specs, with citations.

Zero-retention spec: https://aether-0.lovable.app/docs/zero-retention

Bonus: a cross-border handoff simulation

The site also includes a training-only Emergency Handoff Console. It's a simulation of incident handoffs across El Paso County, Doña Ana County and Ciudad Juárez, using real Census and OpenStreetMap borders and real hospital locations. The incidents, units and hospital status are all fictional, and every screen says clearly that it is not for emergency use. Its audit log is SHA-256 hash-chained, so any tampering breaks verification.

Try it

Site and specs: https://aether-0.lovable.app
Code: https://github.com/tiffanygreene09241993/AETHER-0-Borderless-Emergency-Handoff-Router