Publicly available does not mean free to reuse.
PastTrace keeps source evidence visible and uncertainty intact. Automated enrichment can never promote an item to public domain.
Important: PastTrace is a discovery index, not a rights holder or legal service. Always verify the current archive record before reuse.
Normalized rights labels
| PUBLIC_DOMAIN | The source marks the item public domain or gives an explicit equivalent statement. |
|---|---|
| OPEN_LICENSE | An allow-listed license such as CC BY or CC BY-SA is attached to the media. |
| REUSE_ALLOWED_WITH_CONDITIONS | Reuse may be possible, but attribution, non-endorsement, personality, brand, or other conditions apply. |
| UNKNOWN | Evidence is missing, ambiguous, conflicting, or applies only to metadata. |
| RESTRICTED | Permission is required or reuse is materially limited. |
What every record preserves
Source name and ID, original record URL, raw rights text and URI, normalized status, creator, attribution, last check date, evidence URL, media-use permissions, and adapter/rule version.