Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for transferring ownership privileges. In one aspect, a method includes identifying an ownership privilege in a system that permits users to acquire a write lock on one or more resources in a plurality of resources. The ownership privilege for a first plurality of users located in a first geographic region is revoked based at least partly on a determination that a current time of day in a different, second geographic region satisfies a criteria. The ownership privilege is granted to a different second plurality of users located in the second geographic location responsive to the determination.