Governance and terms and conditions
The other day, I was discussing with Ian Grigg, a long time mutual topic of interest: making technology work by adding proper arbitration to smart contracts and agreements. This can even be done in code, as he had demonstrated way back in the 1990s in his ricardo system.
This prompted me to actually take a look at the Ethereum terms and references to see what it said about disputes. Well, have a look yourselves:
All disputes or claims arising out of, relating to, or in connection with the Terms, the breach thereof, or use of the Ethereum Platform shall be finally settled under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by one or more arbitrators appointed in accordance with said Rules. All claims between the parties relating to these Terms that are capable of being resolved by arbitration, whether sounding in contract, tort, or otherwise, shall be submitted to ICC arbitration......
.... And so on.
What does this mean for Ethereum governance?
While I hugely appreciate the development of Ethereum and all the efforts that have gone into it. it does strike me that when push came to shove, the developers brushed aside their own terms and conditions. The use of Ethereum was instrumental to setting up the DAO, so why not revert to the ICC Arbitration?
My guess would be that, not being lawyers or into governance, the developers used the tools that came in handy and quickly. Alternatively, it might be the case that they might have invested in the DAO themselves quite considerably.
Regardless of the exact reasons behind not using the dispute resolution mechanism, the paradox is that, while there is a formal basis for dispute resolution under Ethereum, the likelihood exists that in future instances of trouble, the developers will again fork their way out of trouble.
Create an additional dispute resolution layer.
Any practical use and implementation of Ethereum should therefore come accompanied with additional agreements on dispute resolution, so that organisations that cooperate on the basis of the ethereum blockchain create their own governance basis.
