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Comment by xorbyte

9 years ago

If he doesn't like your site, he may not allow you to use his service, which is something the TOS already cover.

Over time, such capricious terminations could lead to the Board seeking action against the CEO, depending on the impact to the business.

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xorbyte

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maxlybbert  9 years ago

I'm no lawyer, but I seem to recall that a contract that allows one side to unilaterally withdraw for unspecified reasons is not a real contract (the legal term is "illusory promise" or "illusory contract").

Cloudflare apparently has a legal team, so I have to assume they know whether their terms of service are actually an enforceable contract, but that provision sounds fishy to me.

  • maxlybbert  9 years ago

    The point here is that if you have an account with Cloudflare, but Cloudflare's terms of use allow it to cancel your account for any reason--which is how I understand the CEO's explanation, regardless of whether I think the stated reason is good or bad--then you may be relying on something that you shouldn't rely on.

  • matt4077  9 years ago

    > I seem to recall that a contract that allows one side to unilaterally withdraw for unspecified reasons is not a real contract

    I certainly hope you're wrong. Because I've "unilaterally withdrawn from" (i. e. "canceled") literally hundreds of contracts, and I don't remember ever giving a reason.