Fun fact about computer networking: Access to a network is established by transmitting an explicit request for access to the network, followed by receipt of an explicit grant of access the network.

It seems to me that the real problem is that people are still far too enthusiastic about reasoning about computers by means of analogy, instead of recognizing that computers have their own paradigm and their own implications, which are not amenable to comparison with other, more familiar things like cars and houses and streets and flowers.