Timestamp outage, backup, and continuity

Primary Timestamp Authority

New records are stamped by FreeTSA.org using RFC 3161. The request URL is https://freetsa.org/tsr. The authority receives the SHA-256 fingerprint of the file — not the file, and not names or titles.

If FreeTSA is down

• Issuance waits and then fails. No credit is used.
• Lyricsmit does not issue a record timed only by its own clock and present it as an independent timestamp.
• There is no backup Timestamp Authority in production today.
• Adding a second TSA would be a separate, disclosed change — not a silent swap during an outage.

If Lyricsmit is down

An RFC 3161 token can still be checked with standard tools against FreeTSA's public certificates, if you have the token and the file fingerprint. Download the Evidence Pack from your record while the site is up. The verify page is not a substitute for that pack.

Legacy records without a token

Older rows that never received a token may later receive a stamp at the time of a maintenance request. That later stamp proves the fingerprint was presented then. It does not backdate the original save. Verification pages that lack a stamp must not be read as third-party time.

Website and registry

Saved records are kept while the service operates. That is not a promise that Lyricsmit, the verify URLs, or the database will exist forever. Keep your original file and the Evidence Pack.