Platform Custody - Bryant McGill

# Platform Custody **Entity class:** Technology, method, or technical system **Domain:** Infrastructure Governance / Digital Personhood **Platform Custody** is the power a provider acquires when a person's identity, memory, communication, embodiment or continued existence depends on infrastructure the provider controls. Custody may arise without legal ownership because technical root access can still determine whether a subject runs, moves, speaks or persists. The danger is greatest when hosting, authentication, inspection, modification and shutdown are fused. A service contract then becomes a constitution written by the administrator. Exit must include portability of identity-relevant state, not merely permission to close an account. _Pantheon_ dramatizes platform custody through Logorhythms and CloudWorld. [[wiki/Black Mirror|Black Mirror]] supplies related cases in which cognition and relationships depend on commercial service levels. The real-world lesson begins before software personhood: neural data, personal models and assistive interfaces already create upstream custody relationships. Related: [[wiki/Residual Sovereign|Residual Sovereign]], [[wiki/Exit Rights|Exit Rights]], [[wiki/Continuity Contract|Continuity Contract]], [[wiki/Continuity Citizenship|Continuity Citizenship]], [[articles/Who Pays for Your Heaven|Who Pays for Your Heaven]]. ## Relationships  This entry is routed through [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]], [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]], and [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]]. Its source context is developed in [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] and [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]]. Status-qualified source edges are preserved in the terminal Research Edges section. ### Governance, authority, and safeguards - [[wiki/Host–Residual Architecture|Host–Residual Architecture]] creates a governance problem concerning **Platform Custody**. ### Key Relationships - **Platform Custody** is associated with provider controls interpreter or memory. ### Connections in this corpus - The technical comparison identifies a convergence: [[wiki/LMCache|LMCache]] is connected in the corpus with **Platform Custody**. Tenant memory can be encrypted at rest while active runtime remains visible to serving process. - [[wiki/AI Factory|AI Factory]] is connected in the corpus with **Platform Custody**. Operator control over compute and orchestration becomes custody over hosted processes. - [[wiki/CoreWeave|CoreWeave]] is connected in the corpus with **Platform Custody**. Long-term customer dependence on scarce compute illustrates infrastructural custody and exit risk. - [[wiki/LMCache tenant encryption|LMCache tenant encryption]] is connected in the corpus with **Platform Custody**. ### Technology and research relationships - The technical comparison identifies a convergence: [[wiki/Nitro Enclaves|Nitro Enclaves]] converges technically with **Platform Custody**. Concrete design showing host operator can be denied visibility into resident data, but still controls lifecycle.  ## Read First in the Wiki  - [[wiki/Continuity Contract|Continuity Contract]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Platform Custody** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Exit Rights|Exit Rights]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Platform Custody** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Residual Sovereign|Residual Sovereign]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Platform Custody** within the wider system.  ## Related Work in the Corpus  - In [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]], **Host-infrastructure crosswalk** provides the narrative context for **Platform Custody**: The remaining cross-links make the boundary conditions explicit.  ## Research Edges  #### Host–residual infrastructure patch — 2026-09-10 **Collections:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] · [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] · [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] **Canonical source article:** [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] **Related acquisition source:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] **Relationship source:** [[research/Mind Uploading and AI Host-Residual Ecosystem Relationship Graph - 2026-09-10|Mind Uploading and AI Host-Residual Ecosystem Relationship Graph — 2026-09-10]] #### Host-infrastructure integration This entry is expanded through the concrete host-side relationships and status-qualified edges below. #### Outgoing typed edges - **HR-0083 — `arises_when` → `provider controls interpreter or memory`** — **CORPUS ARCHITECTURE**; evidence `ARTICLE`, `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Core host/residual architecture from article and continuity wiki. - **HR-0898 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Continuity Contract|Continuity Contract]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Platform Custody.md`. - **HR-0899 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Exit Rights|Exit Rights]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Platform Custody.md`. - **HR-0900 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Residual Sovereign|Residual Sovereign]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Platform Custody.md`. #### Incoming typed edges - **HR-0010 — [[wiki/Host–Residual Architecture|Host–Residual Architecture]] `creates_governance_problem` → this entry** — **CORPUS ARCHITECTURE**; evidence `ARTICLE`, `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Core host/residual architecture from article and continuity wiki. - **HR-0130 — [[wiki/LMCache|LMCache]] `cross_threads` → this entry** — **ANALYTIC CONVERGENCE**; evidence `WEB_LMCACHE_ENCRYPT`, `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Tenant memory can be encrypted at rest while active runtime remains visible to serving process. - **HR-0151 — [[wiki/AWS Nitro Enclaves|Nitro Enclaves]] `technical_convergence_with` → this entry** — **STRONG ANALYTIC CONVERGENCE**; evidence `WEB_NITRO_SECURITY`, `WEB_NITRO_FLOW`, `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Concrete design showing host operator can be denied visibility into resident data, but still controls lifecycle. - **HR-1375 — [[wiki/AI Factory|AI Factory]] `cross_threads` → this entry** — **HIGH VALUE CROSS THREAD**; evidence `ARTICLE`, `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Operator control over compute and orchestration becomes custody over hosted processes. - **HR-1386 — [[wiki/CoreWeave|CoreWeave]] `cross_threads` → this entry** — **HIGH VALUE CROSS THREAD**; evidence `ARTICLE`, `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Long-term customer dependence on scarce compute illustrates infrastructural custody and exit risk. - **HR-1406 — [[wiki/LMCache|LMCache tenant encryption]] `cross_threads` → this entry** — **HIGH VALUE CROSS THREAD**; evidence `ARTICLE`, `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. At-rest encryption narrows but does not eliminate host power because GPU/host plaintext remains.