But the infrastructure is highly centralized and only certain chosen entities can operate gTLDs and certificate authorities. It's extremely misleading to call it 'free software'. Why can't there be multiple competing systems. There should be a push for Blockchain-based alternatives. I still don't understand why projects like Unstoppable Domains aren't getting more traction. The idea of a domain name that you actually own is appealing.
There can be and are multiple competing systems. There are alternative dns roots, opennic.org for example, and entirely separate protocols like ipfs and i2p with their own methods of mapping names to numbers.
You can go make your entire own alternative DNS system, with your own governance and policy. Free as you like. You just have to convince people to resolve against you.
I think you may be applying a very weird definition of "free software", even compared to the usual gratis vs libre axis.
Also, I really don't think controlling a domain name NFT in a system that's mostly computers you neither own nor control constitutes "more ownership" than the IRL law and contract bound rental world we currently live in. Especially if all the requirements and outcomes (payments for control resulting in land grabs of valuable names) are the same as our current system.
Maybe not more ownership by the owner, but certainly more ownership by the user, which is what's important. If there are multiple blockchain-based alternatives, I can choose which one to resolve with; it's also essentially built-in namespacing (with each name marked with its resolver.) And although I'm personally very crypto-negative, a distributed ledger is exactly what I would want to make sure that any nodes that I use to resolve a name on a particular registry are trustworthy.
The throughput problem that poisons cryptocurrency becomes irrelevant when we're talking about something that's as naturally long-lived as domain names. Every domain blockchain can have its own gatekeeping process; one can sell names for thousands of $ each, and another can give away thousands for a $. They can require that domain owners have a camera pointed at them personally for 24-hours a day or be revoked, or they can hand out infinite names through a onion-routed API.
I think that permanent identifiers might be helpful, which could include a timestamp and other stuff. This can be combined with web of trust, that it can then be verified in this way.
They just run one root. You can run a different root. E.g. Some people run an ENS bridge.