Yes, a router uses lists, but it isn't a list.
Abandoning control of the hardware layer seems like a net-loss.
Discussion
if the data needs to be public, it needs to be a list. this is what ip ranges are about. this doesn't translate to keys at all, because they are high entropy unlike address ranges.
the hardware layer has to sacrifice some privacy to enable this.
cryptographic identities for network nodes requires intensive configuration. i'm doing it right now creating a 4 node 6 path wireguard mesh right now
A relay community membership list doesn't need to be public.
i've been thinking about this and it can be a privileged event that only the relay and the author can read, and using bloom filters to designate the list so even if the list is leaked you can only check it one by one to see which npubs are included
Interesting feature, that latter one ✍️