um...we still have, like, the internet? You can make some html file, post it on a computer exposed at a port, connect it to the internet, assign it to a static IP, and tell other people the address?
Unless you are specifically referring to someone providing general purpose hosting that you don't need to think about administering — well that isn't a feature of our present-day landscape simply because it wouldn't be a profitable venture given the risks and liabilities from the messed up things people could stash there, along with the inherent costs of admin and hosting.
But if you are willing to set up your own box and procure sysadmin for it, what you suggest exists.
Yes. I also like subways, buses, indoor plumbing, garbage collection, libraries, streets, sidewalks, police, fire safety, postal service, and all sorts of things that we share as members of a society.
Governments around the world have taken way too long to treat internet as a public good (i agree with you).
Especially in america, this country has been running as fast as societally possible in the opposite direction from providing such services as a public good -- so if anything even those libraries and sidewalks are mortal, and at the whims of a political machine idealists may not get to steer.
It sure would be nice if such a thing could exist in stability ad infinatum, but at the same time, there is a small turdy nugget of truth to the american principles of not trusting government with acting in the interests of the people's freedom indefinitely, as has been demonstrated by nations around the world.
We need more grassroots organizations like archive.org supported and run by the people who truly believe in it.
100% agreed with everything you said (and I contribute to archive.org).
Governments won't necessarily get it right, but I would still love to see public efforts toward the goal. Despite recent adjustments, the US postal service has been an impressive slice of government service for a very long time.
What's interesting about this particular goal is that it can easily cross our physical borders. A couple savvy countries can easily team up and get things rolling (or at least throw significant support behind existing efforts)
Unless you are specifically referring to someone providing general purpose hosting that you don't need to think about administering — well that isn't a feature of our present-day landscape simply because it wouldn't be a profitable venture given the risks and liabilities from the messed up things people could stash there, along with the inherent costs of admin and hosting.
But if you are willing to set up your own box and procure sysadmin for it, what you suggest exists.