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+Terms of Service
+================
+
+Last update: 26.04.2024
+
+Welcome! The ICE research center of the Bern University of Applied Sciences
+in Switzerland (“we,” “our,” or “us”) provides an experimental payment service
+through our Internet presence (collectively the “Services”). Before using our
+Services, please read the Terms of Service (the “Terms” or the “Agreement”)
+carefully.
+
+This is research
+----------------
+
+This is a research experiment. Any funds wired to our Bitcoin address are
+considered a donation to our research group. We may use them to enable
+payments following the GNU Taler protocol, or simply keep them at our
+discretion.  The service is experimental and may also be discontinued at
+any time, in which case all remaining funds will definitively be kept by
+the research group.
+
+
+Overview
+--------
+
+This section provides a brief summary of the highlights of this
+Agreement. Please note that when you accept this Agreement, you are accepting
+all of the terms and conditions and not just this section. We and possibly
+other third parties provide Internet services which interact with the Taler
+Wallet’s self-hosted personal payment application. When using the Taler Wallet
+to interact with our Services, you are agreeing to our Terms, so please read
+carefully.
+
+Highlights:
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* You are responsible for keeping the data in your Taler Wallet at all times
+      under your control. Any losses arising from you not being in control of
+      your private information are your problem.
+* We may transfer funds we receive from our users to any legal
+      recipient to the best of our ability within the limitations of the law and
+      our implementation. However, the Services offered today are highly
+      experimental and the set of recipients of funds is severely restricted.
+      Again, we stress this is a research experiment and technically all funds
+      held by the exchange are owned by the research group of the university.
+* For our Services, we may charge transaction fees. The specific fee structure
+      is provided based on the Taler protocol and should be shown to you when you
+      withdraw electronic coins using a Taler Wallet. You agree and understand
+      that the Taler protocol allows for the fee structure to change.
+* You agree to not intentionally overwhelm our systems with requests and
+      follow responsible disclosure if you find security issues in our services.
+* We cannot be held accountable for our Services not being available due to
+      any circumstances. If we modify or terminate our services,
+      we may give you the opportunity to recover your funds. However,
+      given the experimental state of the Services today, this may not be
+      possible. You are strongly advised to limit your use of the Service
+      to small-scale experiments expecting total loss of all funds.
+
+These terms outline approved uses of our Services. The Services and these
+Terms are still at an experimental stage. If you have any questions or
+comments related to this Agreement, please send us a message to
+ice@bfh.ch. If you do not agree to this Agreement, you must not
+use our Services.
+
+How you accept this policy
+--------------------------
+
+By sending funds to us (to top-up your Taler Wallet), you acknowledge that you
+have read, understood, and agreed to these Terms. We reserve the right to
+change these Terms at any time. If you disagree with the change, we may in the
+future offer you with an easy option to recover your unspent funds. However,
+in the current experimental period you acknowledge that this feature is not
+yet available, resulting in your funds being lost unless you accept the new
+Terms. If you continue to use our Services other than to recover your unspent
+funds, your continued use of our Services following any such change will
+signify your acceptance to be bound by the then current Terms. Please check
+the effective date above to determine if there have been any changes since you
+have last reviewed these Terms.
+
+Services
+--------
+
+We will try to transfer funds that we receive from users to any legal
+recipient to the best of our ability and within the limitations of the
+law. However, the Services offered today are highly experimental and the set
+of recipients of funds is severely restricted.  The Taler Wallet can be loaded
+by exchanging fiat or cryptocurrencies against electronic coins. We are
+providing this exchange service. Once your Taler Wallet is loaded with
+electronic coins they can be spent for purchases if the seller is accepting
+Taler as a means of payment. We are not guaranteeing that any seller is
+accepting Taler at all or a particular seller.  The seller or recipient of
+deposits of electronic coins must specify the target account, as per the
+design of the Taler protocol. They are responsible for following the protocol
+and specifying the correct bank account, and are solely liable for any losses
+that may arise from specifying the wrong account. We may allow the government
+to link wire transfers to the underlying contract hash. It is the
+responsibility of recipients to preserve the full contracts and to pay
+whatever taxes and charges may be applicable. Technical issues may lead to
+situations where we are unable to make transfers at all or lead to incorrect
+transfers that cannot be reversed. We may refuse to execute transfers if the
+transfers are prohibited by a competent legal authority and we are ordered to
+do so.
+
+When using our Services, you agree to not take any action that intentionally
+imposes an unreasonable load on our infrastructure. If you find security
+problems in our Services, you agree to first report them to
+security@taler-systems.com and grant us the right to publish your report. We
+warrant that we will ourselves publicly disclose any issues reported within 3
+months, and that we will not prosecute anyone reporting security issues if
+they did not exploit the issue beyond a proof-of-concept, and followed the
+above responsible disclosure practice.
+
+
+Fees
+----
+
+You agree to pay the fees for exchanges and withdrawals completed via the
+Taler Wallet ("Fees") as defined by us, which we may change from time to
+time. With the exception of wire transfer fees, Taler transaction fees are set
+for any electronic coin at the time of withdrawal and fixed throughout the
+validity period of the respective electronic coin. Your wallet should obtain
+and display applicable fees when withdrawing funds. Fees for coins obtained as
+change may differ from the fees applicable to the original coin. Wire transfer
+fees that are independent from electronic coins may change annually.  You
+authorize us to charge or deduct applicable fees owed in connection with
+deposits, exchanges and withdrawals following the rules of the Taler protocol.
+We reserve the right to provide different types of rewards to users either in
+the form of discount for our Services or in any other form at our discretion
+and without prior notice to you.
+
+Eligibility and Financial self-responsibility
+---------------------------------------------
+
+To be eligible to use our Services, you must be able to form legally binding
+contracts or have the permission of your legal guardian. By using our
+Services, you represent and warrant that you meet all eligibility requirements
+that we outline in these Terms.
+
+You will be responsible for maintaining the availability, integrity and
+confidentiality of the data stored in your wallet. When you setup a Taler
+Wallet, you are strongly advised to follow the precautionary measures offered
+by the software to minimize the chances to losse access to or control over
+your Wallet data. We will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from
+your failure to comply with this paragraph.
+
+Copyrights and trademarks
+-------------------------
+
+The Taler Wallet is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+(GNU GPL). You have the right to access, use, and share the Taler Wallet, in
+modified or unmodified form. However, the GPL is a strong copyleft license,
+which means that any derivative works must be distributed under the same
+license terms as the original software. If you have any questions, you should
+review the GNU GPL’s full terms and conditions at
+https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.  “Taler” itself is a trademark
+of Taler Systems SA. You are welcome to use the name in relation to processing
+payments using the Taler protocol, assuming your use is compatible with an
+official release from the GNU Project that is not older than two years.
+
+
+Limitation of liability & disclaimer of warranties
+--------------------------------------------------
+
+You understand and agree that we have no control over, and no duty to take any
+action regarding: Failures, disruptions, errors, or delays in processing that
+you may experience while using our Services; The risk of failure of hardware,
+software, and Internet connections; The risk of malicious software being
+introduced or found in the software underlying the Taler Wallet; The risk that
+third parties may obtain unauthorized access to information stored within your
+Taler Wallet, including, but not limited to your Taler Wallet coins or backup
+encryption keys.  You release us from all liability related to any losses,
+damages, or claims arising from:
+
+1) user error such as forgotten passwords, incorrectly constructed transactions;
+2) server failure or data loss;
+3) unauthorized access to the Taler Wallet application;
+4) bugs or other errors in the Taler Wallet software; and
+5) any unauthorized third party activities, including, but not limited to, the use of 
+viruses, phishing, brute forcing, or other means of attack against the Taler Wallet. We make no 
+representations concerning any Third Party Content contained in or accessed through our Services.
+
+Any other terms, conditions, warranties, or representations associated with
+such content, are solely between you and such organizations and/or
+individuals.
+
+To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will we or any
+of our officers, directors, representatives, agents, servants, counsel,
+employees, consultants, lawyers, and other personnel authorized to act,
+acting, or purporting to act on our behalf (collectively the “Taler Parties”)
+be liable to you under contract, tort, strict liability, negligence, or any
+other legal or equitable theory, for:
+
+1) any direct damages or 
+2) any lost profits, data loss, cost of procurement of substitute goods or services, or 
+direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive, compensatory, or consequential damages of any kind 
+whatsoever resulting from:
+
+* your use of, or conduct in connection with, our services;
+* any unauthorized use of your wallet and/or private key due to your failure to maintain the 
+confidentiality of your wallet;
+* any interruption or cessation of transmission to or from the services; or
+* any bugs, viruses, trojan horses, or the like that are found in the Taler Wallet software 
+or that may be transmitted to or through our services by any third party (regardless of the source 
+of origination).
+
+These limitations apply regardless of legal theory, whether based on tort,
+strict liability, breach of contract, breach of warranty, or any other legal
+theory, and whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such
+damages. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of
+liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may
+not apply to you.
+
+Our services are provided "as is" and without warranty of any kind. To the
+maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all representations and
+warranties, express or implied, relating to the services and underlying
+software or any content on the services, whether provided or owned by us or by
+any third party, including without limitation, warranties of merchantability,
+fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, freedom from
+computer virus, and any implied warranties arising from course of dealing,
+course of performance, or usage in trade, all of which are expressly
+disclaimed. In addition, we do not represent or warrant that the content
+accessible via the services is accurate, complete, available, current, free of
+viruses or other harmful components, or that the results of using the services
+will meet your requirements. Some states do not allow the disclaimer of
+implied warranties, so the foregoing disclaimers may not apply to you. This
+paragraph gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other legal
+rights that vary from state to state.
+
+Indemnity and Time limitation on claims and Termination
+-------------------------------------------------------
+
+To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and
+hold harmless the Taler Parties from and against any and all claims, damages,
+obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including, but
+not limited to, attorney’s fees) arising from: (a) your use of and access to
+the Services; (b) any feedback or submissions you provide to us concerning the
+Taler Wallet; (c) your violation of any term of this Agreement; or (d) your
+violation of any law, rule, or regulation, or the rights of any third party.
+
+You agree that any claim you may have arising out of or related to your
+relationship with us must be filed within one year after such claim arises,
+otherwise, your claim in permanently barred.
+
+In the event of termination concerning your use of our Services, your
+obligations under this Agreement will still continue.
+
+
+Discontinuance of services and Force majeure
+--------------------------------------------
+
+We may, in our sole discretion and without cost to you, with or without prior
+notice, and at any time, modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently,
+any portion of our Services. We will use the Taler protocol’s provisions to
+notify Wallets if our Services are to be discontinued. It is your
+responsibility to ensure that the Taler Wallet is online at least once every
+three months to observe these notifications. We shall not be held responsible
+or liable for any loss of funds in the event that we discontinue or depreciate
+the Services and your Taler Wallet fails to transfer out the coins within a
+three months notification period.
+
+We shall not be held liable for any delays, failure in performance, or
+interruptions of service which result directly or indirectly from any cause or
+condition beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to: any
+delay or failure due to any act of God, act of civil or military authorities,
+act of terrorism, civil disturbance, war, strike or other labor dispute, fire,
+interruption in telecommunications or Internet services or network provider
+services, failure of equipment and/or software, other catastrophe, or any
+other occurrence which is beyond our reasonable control and shall not affect
+the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
+
+
+Governing law, Waivers, Severability and Assignment
+---------------------------------------------------
+
+No matter where you’re located, the laws of Switzerland will govern these
+Terms. If any provisions of these Terms are inconsistent with any applicable
+law, those provisions will be superseded or modified only to the extent such
+provisions are inconsistent. The parties agree to submit to the ordinary
+courts in Bern, Switzerland for exclusive jurisdiction of any dispute
+arising out of or related to your use of the Services or your breach of these
+Terms.
+
+Our failure to exercise or delay in exercising any right, power, or privilege
+under this Agreement shall not operate as a waiver; nor shall any single or
+partial exercise of any right, power, or privilege preclude any other or
+further exercise thereof.
+
+You agree that we may assign any of our rights and/or transfer, sub-contract,
+or delegate any of our obligations under these Terms.
+
+If it turns out that any part of this Agreement is invalid, void, or for any
+reason unenforceable, that term will be deemed severable and limited or
+eliminated to the minimum extent necessary.
+
+This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding and agreement as to the
+subject matter hereof and supersedes any and all prior discussions,
+agreements, and understandings of any kind (including, without limitation, any
+prior versions of this Agreement) and every nature between us. Except as
+provided for above, any modification to this Agreement must be in writing and
+must be signed by both parties.
+
+
+Questions or comments
+---------------------
+
+We welcome comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions. Please send us a
+message on our contact page at legal@taler-systems.com.