It seems to mean that Bob's free hosting service has to be a relatively benign and permanent institution like ICANN, and not some ropey old operation like Photobucket.
Others on this thread are talking about Decentralized IDs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_identifier . Looks like those are stored in several competing systems. There's a blockchain one, a Chinese one that wants to know your real name, and a Microsoft one that wants to store your photo. This all has, uh, implications, which sound much less liberating than this at:// protocol does at first.
Technically sure, but (1) apps that Bob uses have no power over that database, and (2) if someone were to remove that row, Bob could change his handle to something else without losing his identity, data, or reach.
Others on this thread are talking about Decentralized IDs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_identifier . Looks like those are stored in several competing systems. There's a blockchain one, a Chinese one that wants to know your real name, and a Microsoft one that wants to store your photo. This all has, uh, implications, which sound much less liberating than this at:// protocol does at first.