BeOS?

In the USA? Hardly at all and in all states. I was under the same (false) impression before.

I believe you, but many people self host on rented hardware for various reasons. For example “proper” self hosting comes with upfront cost. But self hosting ln a VPS comes with reliability, uptime, predictability. But you’re still the master of the software you host, of backups, etc.

Self hosting doesn’t necessarily imply you need your own hardware.