Yes, this is a crucial mistake. People love to understand things by analogy, but analogies are limited. I might explain a filesystem and folder structure to so

Yes, this is a crucial mistake. People love to understand things by analogy, but analogies are limited. I might explain a filesystem and folder structure to someone by using an analogy that uses paper folders etc. But crucial understanding is lost when I do this. There are significant differences between the systems that make certain rules that apply to one system not apply to the other. Another reason this is not a useful analogy is if we see information as government property, I am using government property each time I identify myself using my ID card or even my name and date of birth. Surely we should now pay tax each time we do this (or the government should license it to us). Furthermore, in the specific case of the government, which works in service of the people it governs, government owned information is at odds with its purpose. The government got this information from, and uses it in service of, its citizens. As much of it as possible should be public. For instance, land-surveying information should be public, as well as free (with respect to rights). The property analogy is too limited. We need to understand information as something different.