What type of S3 Object Lock remains until you explicitly remove it?

The correct choice is Legal Hold, which provides a mechanism to retain an object indefinitely until it is explicitly removed by an authorized user. When a Legal Hold is applied to an object in Amazon S3, that object cannot be deleted or modified, and this status remains active until an administrator decides to lift the hold. This feature is particularly useful for compliance with regulatory requirements, ensuring that critical data is preserved in its original form for as long as necessary, independent of any retention periods that may apply.

In contrast, a Retention Period allows you to specify a duration for which the object must remain unchanged or undeleted. After the retention period expires, the object can be removed or modified unless there is an active Legal Hold. The terms Permanent Lock and Time-bound Lock are not standard terminologies associated with S3 Object Lock features, making these options less relevant to the question. The definition and purpose of Legal Hold clearly align with the requirement to protect objects from deletion until an explicit action is taken to remove that protection, emphasizing its critical role in data governance and compliance.