Within the controlled environment of an archives, the provenance of records is theoretically secure. Archives, of course, deal with limited types of items. The truth value of a record is not what makes it authentic. A record might contain false information but still be authentic as a record. In the larger context of libraries and beyond, the role of provenance is far more complicated.
Archives can serve as a trusted third party only in a relatively controlled environment.
Whenever information crosses administrative and technological boundaries, as it does in the more permeable world of publishers and libraries, the role of trusted third parties, while critical for authenticity, is harder to develop and maintain. The partnership between libraries and publishers, a crucial link in the ultimate relationship between author and reader, has evolved slowly, at times painfully, over centuries, and will continue to evolve. Nonetheless, the digital environment will still need trusted third parties to store material, and the libraries and publishers will need to agree on protocols for digital publishing and preservation that work as effectively as have those of the past. The technologists replied with skepticism, saying that there is no technological solution that does not itself involve the transfer of trust to a third party. Those technological solutions are as weak or as strong as the trusted third party.