A Consequence of Free Information

Mark Buchanan suggests that the concept that "information is free" is impoverishing the middle class artisans who create information, while concentrating a great deal of wealth in the hands of those few who own server platforms (Facebook, Google, etc.) which distribute that information and then distribute in turn the behavioral data about the information users.

Buchanan suggests that nanopayments should be distributed to all information providers, providing economic benefit to largely middle-class information contributors.

It is my belief that a micropayment requirement might succeed in a "walled garden" nation such as China, a nation which can control the distribution of information to citizens. Micropayments probably would not be equitable in an environment where some nations require micropayments, and other nations do not. -DD