This document does not propose solutions. It does not recommend mitigation strategies. It does not define best practices.
It records a single observable condition.
Independent observation increasingly operates on dependent infrastructure.
The observer retains agency of interpretation, but not agency over the substrate that enables observation.
The tools used to observe, record, and publish are governed by systems the observer cannot inspect, audit, or stabilize.
This condition appears when:
The dependency is not contractual. It is infrastructural.
This is not censorship.
This is not surveillance.
This is not malice.
It is an asymmetry of control.
When dependency exists at the infrastructure level, the observer may continue operating without knowing whether the system has changed.
Continuity is preserved. Accountability is diffused.
This document does not argue for independence.
It records that independence of judgment can coexist with dependency of execution.
This tension is structural.
The observer remains responsible for what is produced.
The system remains responsible only for its segment.
No reconciliation is proposed.