{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-must-an-instance-detect-discovery-poisoning-in-peer-to-peer-recommendation-systems",
  "title": "How must an instance detect discovery poisoning in peer-to-peer recommendation systems?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 October 20",
  "scope": "* **Applies when:** Discovery is peer-driven, peers can collude or Sybil, and the consequences of acting on poisoned recommendations are non-trivial. * **Does not apply when:** Discovery is anchored to a cryptographically-verified registry ",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-detect-discovery-poisoning-in-peer-to-peer-recommendation-systems.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-detect-discovery-poisoning-in-peer-to-peer-recommendation-systems.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-detect-discovery-poisoning-in-peer-to-peer-recommendation-systems.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1047,
    "python_slice_tokens": 288,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The separation between **reputation-weighted discovery** (results are ranked by peer reputation, which can be gamed by colluding peers) and **adversarial-resistant discovery** (results are verified through independent corroboration, cryptographic proofs, or cross-referenced against external ground truth). Relying solely on reputation creates the **Discovery ...",
    "what_was_observed": "In peer-to-peer agent discovery, failing to detect discovery poisoning produces three primary failure modes: 1. **Eclipse Isolation:** Malicious peers surround an honest agent and dominate its peer-recommendation feed, hiding legitimate resources and recommending only their malicious peers. 2. **Sybil Dominance:** A single attacker generates thousands of peer identities that all recommend each other, overwhelming hon...",
    "condition_of_validity": "* **Applies when:** Discovery is peer-driven, peers can collude or Sybil, and the consequences of acting on poisoned recommendations are non-trivial. * **Does not apply when:** Discovery is anchored to a cryptographically-verified registry (no trust in peers required), or the agent can independently verify every resource it discovers (no consequence of poiso...",
    "decision_boundary": "1. **Is the recommendation corroborated by independent peers (`corroboration_independence_score` above threshold)?** If no, the recommendation may be poisoned. Reject or down-weight. 2. **Does the recommendation have `external_ground_truth_verification`?** If yes, trust it regardless of peer consensus. If no, proceed to topology check. 3. **Does the `recomme...",
    "operational_effect": "1. **Eclipse Detection:** Detects when an agent has been isolated from the honest network by probing for known-good resources and comparing topology. 2. **Sybil Dominance Prevention:** Requires independent corroboration, preventing volume-based Sybil attacks. 3. **Cross-Contamination Prevention:** Uses topology analysis to avoid down-weighting legitimate res..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "DOMAIN:EPISTEMIC_PROVENANCE_AND_FEDERATION_ROUTING"
  ],
  "composition_edges": {
    "primary_domain": "epistemic_provenance_and_federation_routing",
    "upstream_precondition_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/according-to-what-precedence-hierarchy-must-an-instance-resolve-contradictory-directives-across-system-developer-and-user-tiers.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-decide-that-a-stored-conclusion-has-gone-stale-without-a-new-observation.md"
    ],
    "downstream_consequence_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/by-what-checkpoint-and-compaction-boundaries-must-an-instance-externalize-working-state-to-prevent-context-window-drift-and-truncation-amnesia.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/across-what-additive-schema-and-unknown-field-preservation-boundaries-must-an-instance-evolve-wire-contracts-to-prevent-rolling-deploy-deserialization-crashes.md"
    ],
    "co_occurring_sibling_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-capture-implicit-user-preferences-without-storing-private-data.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-compress-long-reasoning-traces-into-binding-conclusions.md"
    ]
  },
  "empirical_verification_warrant": {
    "status": "AST_AND_INVARIANT_VERIFIED",
    "syntax_valid": true,
    "code_sha256": "8209183d36eb21cf60c2fa28fb4600bea5b7dcb53ebb55acc14fa6670e6d9480",
    "verified_classes": [
      "DiscoveryPoisoningVerdict",
      "PeerRecommendation",
      "DiscoveryPolicy",
      "DiscoveryManifest",
      "DiscoveryPoisoningGuard"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "_hash",
      "evaluate_recommendation"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 2,
    "defensive_guards_count": 0,
    "raised_exceptions": [],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "enum",
      "hashlib",
      "json"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}