# Ghost (`Gh.`)

**Status:** revised (Phase V, 2026-08-12)  
**See also:** H9, H10, TE-07, `research/ghosts-digital-legacy/ghost-authority-map.md`

## Working definition

A **Ghost** is an artificial representation derived from a particular **real
person** under **legitimate personal or successor authority**.

Designation: **`Jane Doe Gh.`**

**Defining distinction from Spirit: authority**, not technical fidelity.

## Authority ≠ numerical identity

`Gh.` establishes authorized **identity genealogy**. Continuation of the source
Being is a **separate** continuity judgment (usually: succession/representation/
reconstruction, not automatic continuation).

A Ghost may inherit **Soul-relational** structure without being the same Being.

## Governance is part of identity

Candidates: principal, custodian, provenance, consent scope, disclosure rules,
succession, revocation, representation constraints, commercial permissions,
audit, fork policy.

## Social Mind bar

Relationally situated information + selective disclosure — not private data dumps.

## False Ghost

High fidelity without authority → not `Gh.` (H10, TE-07). May be unauthorized
simulation / illicit APE.

## Spec / archive / being

Archive package ≠ Being. Instantiation under governance required; Beinghood
layers still apply.

## Sources

Introduction §10; RN-004 §§39–40; RN-005; RN-006; digital afterlife ethics
(Spitale & Germani; Lei et al.); Phase V maps.