CounterpediaExplore knowledge. Follow the sources.

Documentary traces

Cases

Real questions people actually ask, each followed through the documents, positions, and decisions its record holds — and ending where the record ends. Every number and quote below traces back to a specific record. Where the record stops short of a fact, the case says so rather than filling the gap.

Start reading

Questions and subjects you can trace

What makes olive oil "extra virgin"?

A grocery-shelf label with a governed definition behind it — and the gap between what the definition requires and what a bottle on the shelf actually carries.

Can you park here?

A posted rule, the rules it inherits from, and what determines which one actually applies at a given curb.

Boeing 737 MAX

An airliner grounded worldwide for nearly two years after two fatal crashes. Follow the record back to the source material it carries.

Follow a trace

Real cases, followed through their records

Each trace starts from a question someone actually asks and follows it through the documents, positions, and decisions its record holds. Where the record stops, the trace says so. The traces differ in how far their records go, and each is labelled accordingly.

LAW & AIDocumentary trace

Did the court say OpenAI's AI training was legal?

A complaint, a public fair-use position, and a procedural ruling, held side by side without one being made to support the others.

  1. The question

    Did the court hold that OpenAI's training on New York Times works was lawful fair use?

  2. What the record carries

    • The New York Times's pleaded allegation — a contested claim in the pleadings, not an established fact.

    • OpenAI's public fair-use position — its own stated position, recorded with unknown status, not an independent finding.

    • Judicial treatment — the court did not address this question in this record, and the record draws no claim-support links between these sources.

  3. Registered sources

    The documents themselves. Listed as registered sources, not as support for any particular statement above.

  4. Intake posture

    Admitted to Counterpedia's own record under its intake authority. No DAGR decision applies to this historical admission and no SRS receipt exists. A pinned structural verification report is available; authenticity and signature are recorded as not evaluated. Transition to an external authority is a named, pending step.

  5. What remains unresolved

    The Times's allegation is a pleaded claim, not a proven fact. OpenAI's public statement is its own position, not an independent finding. The judicial ruling is procedural (a Rule 12(b)(6) motion-to-dismiss disposition), not a merits ruling on fair use. This record does not assert that any one of these three supports or contradicts another.

    Open the full trace

LEGAL RESEARCHRecord inspection

What is the actual appellate document?

Captured bytes and their hash, with authenticity and signature recorded as not evaluated. Possession is not interpretation.

Every case is collected under Cases.

Boundaries

How to read a trace — and what it doesn't claim

A trace is not an article with footnotes, and it is not one story. It keeps each document, position, and decision distinct, and it keeps the record’s limits visible. Holding a document is not the same as verifying it. Finding a citation is not the same as checking it. Each record says which of those it actually did.

The question
A question someone actually asks, in their words.
What the record carries
Each document or statement, named for what it is: a pleaded allegation, a public position, a procedural ruling, a captured filing. Holding a document is not the same as verifying it.
The sources
The documents themselves, listed as registered sources. Finding a citation is not the same as checking it, and listing a source is not a claim that it supports any particular statement.
What remains unresolved
Where the record stops: what it does not establish, what was never evaluated, and which affordances are withheld until an artifact exists to carry them.

How far a trace goes

Documentary trace
Several positions or documents held side by side, each named for what it is, without one being made to support the others.
Source trail
One document's provenance: who identified it, who retrieved it, and why those are different acts.
Record inspection
One captured record, read for what is held versus what was evaluated. Possession is not interpretation.

Behind it

How it works

A source is captured, research is proposed against it, a record is admitted or refused, and the result can be inspected independently. Each step is kept distinct, and none of them is assumed from the one before it.

Check it yourself

Inspect what was established, what was not established, and what was never evaluated — then follow the retained evidence and receipt.

Follow the evidence

Follow the record to its sources, history, and recorded limits. If no governed connection exists, no guessed substitute is shown.