Opaque Frame

• CURIE: gmeow:OpaqueFrame
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/OpaqueFrame
• Category: class
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/gts
• Box roles: TBox role (What is this?)

A sealed or undecodable region of a GTS segment, surfaced by the reader as a first-class object rather than dropped (spec §7.6): an encrypted frame the reader holds no key for, a frame using a codec the reader lacks, or a damaged frame. Opacity is VANTAGE-RELATIVE epistemic state, not a property of the bytes — the same frame is transparent to a recipient holding the key (standpoint/privacy, Principle 9). The frame's bytes remain present, hash-linked, and chain-verifiable.

Structure

Subclass of: gmeow:InformationObject

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:OpaqueFrame as a specialized kind of gmeow:InformationObject. Add statement metadata or a standpoint when the assertion needs provenance, confidence, or vantage.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Dist Package

• Source: slices/core/gts/examples/dist-package.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-gts-examples-dist-package

@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd:   <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .



# A sealed frame: opacity is vantage-relative — transparent to its recipient.
ex:gts-opaque-frame-001
    a gmeow:OpaqueFrame ;
    rdfs:label "sealed evidence attachment"@en ;
    gmeow:opaqueFrameIn ex:gts-dist-segment-core ;
    gmeow:opacityReason gmeow:opacityMissingKey ;
    gmeow:sealedRecipient ex:agent-archivist-001 .

Common Companion Terms

gmeow:InformationObject

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use when a reader surfaces a frame it cannot decode — sealed without a key, using an unknown codec, or damaged — so the gap is described rather than silently dropped, preserving the chain.

Avoid when

• Avoid asserting opacity as a property of the bytes themselves — it is vantage-relative, true only for the describing reader; do not use it for a frame the reader decoded successfully, nor as a privacy classification (that is the kernel sensitivity/disclosure axes).

How to use

• Anchor it to its segment with gmeow:opaqueFrameIn, state the required gmeow:opacityReason, and for sealed frames list the agents who can decrypt it with gmeow:sealedRecipient so the vantage-relativity is explicit.

Examples

• ex:frame7 a gmeow:OpaqueFrame; gmeow:opaqueFrameIn ex:seg0; gmeow:opacityReason gmeow:opacityMissingKey.