When telephones were still solidly connected to the wall, either by being bolted on to it or by an umbilical (sometimes consisting of one or more phone extension cords) it was pretty clear who owned them, the phone company did. And bad things (such as disconnection) would happen to you if you connected something to the network that wasn’t authorized. When computers were still unconnected to each other using networks it was pretty clear who owned them too, the company or person that paid for...
