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Comment by ajkdhcb2 | Hacker News Reader

When I go through the steps to see what needs to be done to be a validator it says "terms of use are entered into by and between you and the Ethereum Foundation".

So it's a centralized joke?

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You're referring to the Terms of the website, not "Ethereum 2.0". It's like agreeing to the Terms of Use of a Bitcoin wallet. It doesn't mean that Bitcoin is a "centralized joke".

The Terms of Service cover the usage of the Launchpad website. The website is a service created by the Ethereum Foundation to guide users through the procedures required to join the Ethereum 2.0 network as a validator. You don't need to use this website (or agree to the TOS for the website) to participate in the Ethereum 2.0 network. The technical requirements and procedures are fully documented in other places (in a more technical less user friendly manner).

I imagine they added a ToS to avoid "I used your website and I lost all my money"-type lawsuits.

They could just as easily have released user-friendly documentation without a ToS. Terms of Service are a way to oppress your users and are never a good sign.

The Ethereum Foundation is a legal entity, and as such they have to implement legal protections to any work they produce, or people will sue them. This is unfortunately how the current legal system works.

The ToS basically says you're not allowed to do illegal things, and they are not liable for any damages caused by using the website. In addition they have some restrictions in place in order to protect users of the website from fraud/phishing and other damage.

Do you think this is unnecessarily oppressive?

A ToS is always unnecessarily oppressive. A lot of the things you quote are not allowed even without a ToS. As far as the culture of suing for everything goes, that can easily be solved by not incorporating in or touching the US.

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