Web Numbers

Summary

Web Numbers 25 Jun 2025 Are you ready for Web Numbers? Domains? Where we’re going, we don’t need domains! IP addresses are about to make a comeback on the web in a big (ok, small) way. What’s all this, then? As some of you might know, I’ve been working for the past six years on building a little thing I call the Small Web. The idea behind the Small Web is to make it as easy as possible to have your own web site at your own domain. And not just any web site: a personal social web site where other people can follow your public posts from their own domains and where you can talk to other people privately via their domains, should you want to. Notice I keep saying “domain”. That’s because, until the end of this year, the only way to have a secure web site is to have it accessible via a domain name. That, however, is changing and the design of the Small Web will be changing along with it. Let’s Encrypt (IP addresses) On January 16, 2025, Let’s Encrypt announced Six Day and IP Address Certificate Options in 2025. This is huge. The problem with domains The commercial domain name system is a perfect example of the type of artificial scarcity capitalism creates and exploits. Domain names are tiny little rows in a database. They cost next-to-nothing to set up and maintain. There’s absolutely no reason why they couldn’t be a public good, paid for from the public purse. And yet you pay (at times extortionate) amounts for them… why? Because capitalism. But the monetary cost isn’t the only cost involved. I’d even argue that it’s not the most important cost when it comes to the Small Web: There is also the time and effort cost. Bullshit costs time Beyond shopping around to find a reputable domain registrar, navigating hostile psychological pricing schemes, and other related bullshit, there is the technical knowledge barrier and the actual time it takes to purchase a domain and set up its Domain Name System (DNS) records to point to your server. For someone with the prerequisite te...