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Security and privacy

Research cut-off date: 2026-07-22. Status: Phase 2, not yet written. This file states the scope of the work, the arguments it owns, and the research required to complete it. It contains no findings, because none have been sourced. See the changelog for phase status.

Scope

Covers the security and privacy properties that bear on model selection: data retention and training-use terms for commercial APIs, regional processing and residency, prompt injection and tool-use exposure in agent deployments, training-data extraction and memorisation, and the deployment options that change the threat model. Records commercial terms as dated snapshots, since they change without notice.

Arguments this chapter owns

Other files link here rather than restating these. Duplicated argumentation is a defect under the writing standards, not redundancy for the reader's convenience.

  • The threat model for model-mediated systems as it bears on selection.
  • The distinction between provider policy, contractual commitment, and technical control.
  • Dated records of data retention and training-use terms per provider.

Developed elsewhere

Research checklist

  • Record data retention period, training-use default, and opt-out mechanism per provider, each with a URL and an access date.
  • Cite the memorisation and extraction literature rather than describing the risk generically.
  • Record regional processing and residency options per provider where documented.
  • State explicitly that these terms are dated snapshots and must be re-verified before any procurement decision.

Completion criteria

This chapter is complete when every checklist item above is closed, when every numerical claim carries a footnote resolving to data/sources.csv, when every claim about a current model carries an absolute date, and when the twelve-point quality-control checklist in the research methodology passes.