One problem is the metaphor of place. The internet is not composed of tool sheds that contain lawnmowers; it is not composed of places at all. The internet is a

One problem is the metaphor of place. The internet is not composed of tool sheds that contain lawnmowers; it is not composed of places at all. The internet is a network that allows hosts to send packets to other hosts. These packets are, fundamentally, communications. A communication can constitute a fraud or a slander or a copyright violation or certain other communication-oriented crimes or torts, but communication is never theft. The "place" metaphor was intended to help people who don't have an intuitive understanding of communication networks. Since POTS had existed for many decades, it's not clear that this metaphor was ever necessary. No one ever confused a phone number with a place. Now that most living people have had childhoods during which the internet existed, the metaphor is certainly not necessary now. If host A on the internet responds to a simple unauthenticated GET from host B with PII, we really shouldn't be blaming host B. The "place" metaphor obscures that fact.