diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 1fbb392..007a12d 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -392,9 +392,11 @@
       .help:hover { background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.16); color: var(--ink); }
 
       /* ---- Bottom left: where the numbers came from -------------------------
-         This line is load-bearing. The markers on this map are invented, and a
-         map that looks this much like a real one has to say so on the same
-         screen as the map — not in a README nobody opens. */
+         Shown only when the data is live — see `renderLegend` in main.ts for why
+         the sample-data half of this was retired. The disclosure it used to
+         carry did not go into a README nobody opens: it is on the boot card
+         everyone passes through and in the `?` card, which is one keypress away
+         from any state the app can be in. */
       .source {
         position: fixed;
         left: var(--s4);
@@ -611,6 +613,9 @@
         </dl>
         <p class="boot-note">On the plan: click or drag to move the view, scroll to zoom,
           arrow keys to aim and <kbd>Enter</kbd> to go.</p>
+        <p class="boot-note">The markers on this map are fabricated. No real company data
+          ships in this build; a deployment wired to a live source says <em>live data</em>
+          in the corner, and this one does not.</p>
         <button class="sheet-close" id="shortcuts-close">Close</button>
       </div>
     </div>
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index 6e11845..086d588 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -383,8 +383,24 @@ function renderLegend() {
     enterButton.textContent = inside ? "← Back to the city" : "Enter the office →";
   }
   if (source) {
-    source.textContent = liveData ? "live data" : "sample data · fabricated, not real companies";
-    source.className = liveData ? "source live" : "source";
+    /**
+     * Only the *positive* case gets a permanent corner label.
+     *
+     * This used to read "sample data · fabricated, not real companies" on every
+     * frame of every load, which is the overwhelmingly common case — no
+     * deployment has a markers source wired by default — so the disclosure was
+     * on screen approximately always and had become furniture. A caption nobody
+     * reads is not disclosure, it is a watermark.
+     *
+     * The fact still has to be somewhere on the same screen as the map, so it
+     * is stated on the boot card everyone passes through and again in the `?`
+     * card, one keypress away and permanently reachable. What is left here is
+     * the rare, genuinely informative signal: *this* map is showing live data,
+     * which is a thing worth interrupting someone to say.
+     */
+    source.textContent = liveData ? "live data" : "";
+    source.hidden = !liveData;
+    source.className = "source live";
   }
   if (panelToggleLabel) panelToggleLabel.textContent = inside ? "Office" : cityLabel;
   if (canvas) {