Clockdo – Publish Date Proof & Content Timestamp

Clockdo helps WordPress site owners protect their publish date by generating a verifiable content timestamp.

Clockdo creates a deterministic fingerprint (SHA-256) and requests an OpenTimestamps proof. Public posts use the public proof flow. Draft and private versions use a private, hash-only protocol and never send the title, author, URL, WordPress post ID, or post body. When full-text archive mode is enabled, every meaningful save in draft, pending, scheduled, private, or published state is first stored as an immutable local snapshot.

Features

• Generate per-post timestamp records
• Request OpenTimestamps proof
• Export .ots and manifest files
• Automatic draft, publish, update, and opt-in private-post workflows
• Separate article coverage and immutable proof-history views
• Immutable full-text snapshots for every meaningful save when full-text archive mode is enabled
• Snapshot validation, idempotent requests, and recoverable asynchronous retries
• Optional public meta tags and post footer with verification link
• Independent verification using standard tools

Use Cases

• Prove when an article was first published
• Add a visible publication record to your posts
• Protect against plagiarism disputes
• Maintain an independent timestamp history
• Provide verification material for disputes or takedown cases

English (Summary)
* Generate per-post records and proof history in the dashboard.
* Save proof artifacts to your WordPress uploads folder.
* Optionally inject public meta tags and/or a “Verify” footer link.
* Proofs are designed to be independently verifiable with standard OpenTimestamps tools.

Privacy

This plugin may process and store locally:
* WordPress post metadata (post ID, URL, timestamps),
* immutable full-text snapshots containing post title, body, excerpt, slug, author ID, status, and audit timestamps when full-text archive mode is enabled,
* deterministic hashes (SHA-256),
* proof IDs/statuses,
* proof artifacts written to local disk under wp-content/uploads/clockdo-ots-private/.

Outbound requests:
* This plugin connects to a remote timestamping API (configured by you) to request proofs.
* Full-text archive v3 submissions upload only a manifest commitment; the exact snapshot and post body remain in the local WordPress database. Public manifests may include already-public identity fields such as URL, title, author, and timestamps.
* Legacy export workflows may upload export.json, including post content when the operator explicitly enables that older combination of settings.
* Private and draft submissions upload a hash-only manifest. They do not upload the title, author, URL, WordPress post ID, or post body.
* A SHA-256 commitment is an integrity fingerprint, not encryption. It reveals when two committed snapshots are equal, and low-entropy content may be guessable by testing candidate text.

Public disclosure:
* If you enable meta injection or public verify links, your public pages may expose a hash/canonicalization identifier and a verification link.

See the included docs (for operators):
* assets/docs/privacy.md
* assets/docs/third_party_services.md
* assets/docs/data_deletion_uninstall.md

Third Party Services

This plugin connects to the following external services:

1. Clockdo Timestamping API (ots-api.clockdo.com)

   • Used to register sites, submit timestamp requests, and check proof status.
   • Endpoints called: /api/v1/public/sites, /api/v1/public/site-stamps, /api/v1/site/me, /api/v1/proofs/{proof_id}, and authenticated manifest/OTS artifact paths.
   • Data sent for registration: site domain.
   • Data sent for public proofs: post URL, SHA-256 hash, and manifest/export JSON according to settings.
   • Data sent for private/draft proofs: Site ID, SHA-256 content commitment, event/visibility/source-status fields, canonicalization version, and idempotency key. The per-site secret authenticates the request.
   • Service homepage: https://ots.clockdo.com
   • Privacy policy: https://ots.clockdo.com/privacy
   • Terms of service: https://ots.clockdo.com/terms

2. Clockdo Verification Page (ots-verify.clockdo.com)

   • If public verify links are enabled, post pages may link to this domain for independent proof verification.

All outbound connections are made via the WordPress HTTP API (wp_remote_post / wp_remote_get).
The API Base URL is configurable; the above domains are defaults.

See also: assets/docs/third_party_services.md

Uninstall

Ordinary uninstall removes plugin settings, transient queue state, legacy batch tables, and mutable display metadata. It deliberately retains the immutable ots_post_snapshots and ots_post_proofs audit tables, including any full-text snapshots, and it may leave proof files under wp-content/uploads/clockdo-ots-private/.

For irreversible full deletion, first make and verify a backup, then follow assets/docs/data_deletion_uninstall.md to remove the two retained tables and the private uploads directory explicitly.

Disclaimer

This plugin provides timestamping and verification tooling. It is not legal advice, not a certification service, and does not determine ownership.