Easy to setup and join - install an app and that's it.
The current Internet's not anonymous. With sufficient motive and resource, anyone can be tracked. Thus, anonymity shouldn't be a priority here.
Just make it fast, easy to use, and very difficult to take down (censor) stuff.
Governments don't need to censor the internet via technical measures to impose their will. They just need impose large fines on the companies that violate censorship laws.
Facebook has a version of their site hosted on Tor. That doesn't mean facebook can violate EU laws.
(But who hosts SciHub?)
Additionally that openness would have to apply to companies too. There is very little difference in results between a nation blocking you or Google blocking you right now, other than which boot is on your neck. You can get around both but they cut off a significant portion of the internet
- every Blogger blog
- every website hosted on Google's cloud (quite a few) or using Google DNS
- lots of unique Android apps that arent available on iOS because the barrier to entry is higher
- emailing anyone with an @gmail address
- working at any company using GApps
etc.etc.
I'm grateful that Google launched Android, but now I can use it without their ”services” and use only (albeit maybe a few manufacturer binary blobs) Free Software.
Gmail... Well, I don't use it, and altough not everybody wants to self-host, changing email provider (or having several) is easy.
If a company uses GApps, it probably means I'm not working for it.
...I'd probably use a VPN to be able to watch YouTube, I am not ready to give it up yet. Alternatives are growing, though!
Edit: Additionally, how many of your points are from the viewpoint of "I"? Do you really think as a software engineer, or really just a person in general, that your experiences map to the majority of everyone else?
You wrote “There is very little difference in results between a nation blocking you or Google blocking you right now”, which I interpreted as an individual-targeted sentence. Since I already try to avoid Google (in fact, it’s me blocking them, except for YouTube), I tried to imagine if it blocking me would be a problem.
Of course I don't think that everybody shares my view or can relate to my experience, that would be preposterous.
I was silly at one time and used their DNS services. Why feed the beast more? Let them read all your email to sell your personal details? Why? Too inept to setup a email program? You would have to be half silly to trust these folks. I can't support Alphabet anymore. They have lost their way.