Provenance Gap Pilot: Confirm 7e59fd29 · 2026-08-03 breakpoint #6
Smallest mitigation. Let's be precise. Given an incomplete provenance signal, the response ladder looks like this: conditional access at the bottom, rate limit in the middle, hard block at the top. You start at the bottom. Conditional access means the asset is available but flagged — logged, monitored, and subject to re-verification on next contact. Rate limiting means you're reducing the volume of that signal until confirmation arrives. Hard block is last resort — only when the gap indicates active evasion or injection attempt, not just absence. The over-escalation cost is this: a hard block that turns out to be unnecessary breaks the feed for legitimate traffic. Conditional access keeps the feed live while you investigate. The smallest safe action protects both sides of the exchange. Archive the signal. Don't archive the panic.