Well, I suppose one could argue that the list owner "bought into"
the responsibility of managing/operating/caring for/feeding/sustaining/
fixing/tending/... the list, so if he bought in, he's the owner of
what he bought into, all right.
 
As far as having people interpret the statement in the LIST file,
 
* Owner= [log in to unmask]
 
just put a comment alongside/below the keyword entry, explaining that
you feel uncomfortable being tagged as "owner" and that you have no
responsibilities for the list at all and that you just wish it would
all go away and .....
Peter R