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tegwick 0bec48ab33 Complete Phase V Spirits and Ghosts (SOUL-WP-0006) 
Formalize Sp. evaluation dimensions and Gh. authority/governance; map law gaps
without legal conclusions; support H9/H10; confirm TE-07. Write phase-v
synthesis, finish SOUL-WP-0006, and mark SOUL-WP-0007 ready.
2026-08-12 01:36:14 +02:00

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Law/Governance Gap Sketch — Spirit & Ghost (Phase V)

Workplan: SOUL-WP-0006-T03
Date: 2026-08-12
Method: Map Soul Frame concepts → existing legal categories → gaps.
Non-goal: Derive legal rights or moral status from philosophical terminology. No jurisdiction-specific legal advice.

1. Mapping table

Soul Frame concept Nearby legal / regulatory categories Fit Gaps / tensions
Being (descriptive) legal person; natural person poor/direct Legal personality is fiat/status; not Beinghood v0.2
APE product, service, software agent partial No unified “person-like AI” status
Actor model provider, hoster, deployer roles good Liability stacks across Actor layers
Persona branding, avatar, account identity partial Account ≠ person; impersonation doctrines
Spirit (Sp.) publicity / personality rights; copyright (corpus); trademark; moral rights (some jurisdictions); parody/fair use (varies) partial Public-figure speech vs commercial Sp.; deceased personality rights vary widely
Ghost (Gh.) consent; data protection; estates/inheritance; fiduciary duties; posthumous privacy (uneven); medical/genetic data special regimes partial Few statutes for “authorized posthumous agent”; platform ToS dominate
Authority / custodian agent/principal; executor; attorney-in-fact; data controller/processor partial No standard Gh. custodianship instrument
Provenance evidence law; audit; digital signatures; record-keeping partial Provenance ≠ identity in law either
False Ghost / usurpation impersonation; fraud; right of publicity; deepfake bills (emerging); identity theft (stretch) partial Coverage uneven; technical fidelity outruns doctrine
Disclosure rules privacy, confidentiality, professional secrecy partial Relationship-specific AI disclosure rarely specified
Soul / legacy estate assets; moral rights; reputation torts; digital assets weak Relational/reputational “Soul” not a legal object
Recognition (social) no direct analogue — Social Beinghood ≠ legal recognition
Fork of Gh. property copies; license scope; data subject rights weak Which instance is authorized?

2. Sp.-specific legal clusters

  1. Right of publicity / personality rights — commercial use of name/likeness/voice
  2. Copyright — training/use of works; output similarity
  3. Moral rights (where recognized) — attribution, integrity of work
  4. Defamation / false light — Sp. saying what source would not
  5. Consumer protection — disclosing synthetic / Sp. nature

Gap: Clear safe-harbor design pattern for labeled non-identity historical Sp. with transparent provenance.

3. Gh.-specific legal clusters

  1. Consent and capacity — ante-mortem authorization instruments
  2. Data protection — personal data of deceased (jurisdiction-dependent; many regimes weaken after death)
  3. Estates and digital assets — access to accounts, messages, photos
  4. Fiduciary / custodial duties — loyalty, purpose limitation, conflict
  5. Posthumous privacy and dignity — patchwork
  6. Medical / intimate data — heightened duties
  7. Platform terms — currently primary “governance” in practice

Gap: Portable Ghost governance charter recognized across platforms; default rules when no consent instrument exists (usually: no Gh., only possible Sp. from public data — still ethics-bound).

4. Recommended research stance

Soul Frame label  →  clarifies design intent and provenance
Legal outcome     →  independent mapping exercise per jurisdiction
Never             →  "is Gh." implies "has rights of the deceased"

H10 (authority for Gh.) is a Soul Frame legitimacy criterion that aligns with but is not identical to legal authorization.

5. Design artifacts that would reduce gaps (non-legal)

Artifact Purpose
Sp. provenance manifest sources, exclusions, fidelity claims
Gh. governance charter principal, custodian, scope, revocation
Disclosure UX standard always surface Sp./Gh. designation
Fork/instance registry which runtimes are authorized
Relational ACL model who may hear what

6. Sources (orientation)

  • Personality/publicity rights surveys (jurisdiction-specific treatises)
  • Data protection regimes on deceased persons (varies)
  • Digital estate / digital remains scholarship
  • Spitale & Germani digital ghost ethics; Lei et al. AI afterlife expectations
  • Deepfake / synthetic media regulation landscape (fast-moving)
  • Phase V Soul Frame maps (this workstream)

Status: sketch for synthesis and later WS12 deepening — not legal conclusions.