Evidence access, confidentiality and reuse
Access to AAI Kernel research depends on the evidence object, the people receiving it and the intended use. Public explanations do not grant unrestricted rights to raw captures, proprietary protocols, private diagnoses or third-party material. Verification, collaboration and reuse requests can be discussed individually. Availability, permission and scientific suitability must be assessed separately; this page does not offer a blanket license or a self-service dataset or API.
Public knowledge and private diagnosis
Public methods and accepted findings are distinct from client-specific research and confidential inputs. A private engagement does not supply public proof by default. Publishing an aggregate can still reveal sensitive information if small groups, unusual attributes or linked records allow identification; a safe disclosure needs object-specific review.
Public availability of a webpage permits inspection in an appropriate context, but does not establish every right to reproduce, redistribute or incorporate its contents in another product. Identify the actual author, publisher and relevant terms. Research permission for one use should not be treated as permission for another.
AAI Kernel and The Observatory have distinct research and editorial responsibilities. For an Observatory object, consult that publisher’s reuse terms before proposing reuse. The existence of a public reading does not imply a general license.
The website terms address use of the site itself; access to a commissioned report, source package or dataset needs its own object-specific agreement.
Request evidence or propose collaboration
Begin with the claim or research question you want to check, the specific material requested, the intended use and the intended recipients. State whether you need an excerpt, calculation inputs, a method explanation or a potential collaboration. These are different requests with different evidence and rights implications.
AAI can assess what is available and what may be shared within the agreed scope. Access may be limited by client confidentiality, source restrictions, proprietary methods or the absence of a suitable shareable object. When direct evidence remains restricted, that limit should be stated rather than replaced by a promise of reproducibility.
No public access tiers, secure research room, bulk export, API or standard dataset license is activated by this guidance. Any specific arrangement needs its own confirmed terms and actual delivery basis. The publication standard explains how restricted access must be described in a public article.
Agree handling before sending sensitive material
Start through Contact with a non-sensitive account of the decision or verification need. Before providing restricted records, agree the purpose, authorized recipients, permitted uses, disclosure boundaries and handling route. Confidentiality and retention must be addressed for the engagement rather than assumed from an introductory message.
This guidance does not assert an encryption implementation, legal privilege, certification, automatic deletion schedule or jurisdiction-specific protection. Operational and personal-information commitments belong to their competent owners and the applicable engagement terms; the Privacy notice addresses the site’s personal-information processing.
Restricted research still needs a defensible method and traceable conclusions. Limiting access changes who may inspect an object, not whether the conclusion requires evidence. Share only the material necessary for the agreed investigation.
Agree publishing and agency reuse separately
Research authorship, publishing responsibility, branding, embargoes and reuse permissions should be specified for the actual work. An agency relationship does not automatically authorize white-label use. An editorial commission does not automatically license an existing article or the underlying source material.
Attribution should distinguish who conducted the research from who published the reading. Retain the finding’s scope, date and limitations in permitted summaries. A paid commission should not be presented as independent endorsement, and client payment does not authorize altering a public result to favor the client.
For an agency brief or newsroom investigation, identify the intended audience and output before deciding what evidence can be reused. The agency and media pages explain the relevant engagement paths; final rights remain specific to the object and agreement.
Definitions
- Research/data access
- Research or data access is permission to inspect specified material for an agreed purpose and recipients. A request route does not establish an open API, bulk dataset, secure-room service or unrestricted access to raw evidence.
- Research permission
- Research permission is the documented authority to access, use, disclose or reuse specified research material for a stated purpose. Its scope depends on applicable consent, source rights and disclosure restrictions. Public availability alone does not establish every permission or authorize a different use.
Common questions
- Can researchers access historical observations?
- Access is assessed for the specific evidence, purpose and source rights. Historical availability is not a promise of unrestricted access.
- Does AAI Kernel provide a public research API?
- No public self-service API is promised. Discuss the research question and permitted access as part of a scoped enquiry.
07 Where this leads
The practical next step is to describe the intended decision without transferring the restricted material. The confidential investigation example separates that opening conversation from evidence access and delivery. The commissioning guide then connects permissions to the research scope, recipients and output that need to be agreed.