--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Wouldn’t it be easier just to treat the…" description: "\"“Wouldn’t it be easier just to treat the information space as a public resource and tax or charge companies somehow for the benefit of using it?”\" — Ja..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/57c/jaron-lanier-2241_information-space_wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the_1694109.png" --- # Wouldn’t it be easier just to treat the information space… ![“Wouldn’t it be easier just to treat the information space as a public resource and tax or charge companies somehow for the benefit of using it?” quote by Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/57c/jaron-lanier-2241_information-space_wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the_1694109.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/57c/jaron-lanier-2241_information-space_wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the_1694109.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/57c/jaron-lanier-2241_information-space_wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the_1694109.png) > ““Wouldn’t it be easier just to treat the information space as a public resource and tax or charge companies somehow for the benefit of using it?”” [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Treating data as a public resource and taxing its use could democratize information but raises practical and ethical challenges. **In simple terms:** Tax data to public good. Key Takeaway Consider policies that balance access and fairness. Themes technology policy public good economics Mood analytical concerned Type proposal question When to use this quote - government regulation - digital platforms - public libraries Key Concepts data commons taxation equity Questions to Reflect On - How to enforce data taxes? - What are fair compensation models? A Different Perspective Implementation complexity and enforcement issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Related quotes > [Every time you enter a space, you are on public display. Nothing is private.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-cotton/every-time-you-enter-a-space-you-are-on-public-display-nothing-is/) [Charlotte Cotton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-cotton/) > [“Wouldn't it be easier to change people's eyes and hair than to build big furnaces and then catch Jews and Gypsies to burn them?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerzy-kosi-ski/wouldn-t-it-be-easier-to-change-people-s-eyes-and-hair-than-to-build/) [Jerzy Kosinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerzy-kosi-ski/) > [The goal of my life isn't just... to be happy. 'Wouldn't it be easier if it was, though?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/the-goal-of-my-life-isn-t-just-to-be-happy-wouldn-t-it-be-easier-if/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [The more you enter, the more you become locked in. Your social-networking site becomes a central platform - a closed silo of content, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/the-more-you-enter-the-more-you-become-locked-in-your-social/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) > [The story of the growth of the World Wide Web can be measured by the number of Web pages that are published and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/the-story-of-the-growth-of-the-world-wide-web-can-be-measured-by-the/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) > [Everything that exists is information, and everything that is informative also exists. The infosphere is not a virtual space that is distinct from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-burda/everything-that-exists-is-information-and-everything-that-is/) [Hubert Burda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-burda/) > [If you can design the physical space, the social space, and the information space together to enhance collaborative learning, then that whole milieu turns…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-seely-brown/if-you-can-design-the-physical-space-the-social-space-and-the/) [John Seely Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-seely-brown/) > [The dream behind the Web is of a common information space in which we communicate by sharing information.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/the-dream-behind-the-web-is-of-a-common-information-space-in-which-we/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) ## More by Jaron Lanier > [If we allow our self-congratulatory adoration of technology to distract us from our own contact with each other, then somehow the original agenda has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/if-we-allow-our-self-congratulatory-adoration-of-technology-to/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [Individual web pages as they first appeared in the early 1990s had the flavour of person-hood. 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You can believe there's something ineffable going on within the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/there-are-at-least-two-ways-to-believe-in-the-idea-of-quality-you-can/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [An intelligent person feels guilty for downloading music without paying the musician, but they use this free-open-culture ideology to cover it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/an-intelligent-person-feels-guilty-for-downloading-music-without/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [“What these critics forget is that printing presses in themselves provide no guarantee of an enlightened outcome. People, not machines, made the Renaissance. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/what-these-critics-forget-is-that-printing-presses-in-themselves/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [There were studies that asked people in different cultures to draw pictures of their enemies, and the pictures all looked remarkably the same. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/there-were-studies-that-asked-people-in-different-cultures-to-draw/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [“Zombies are familiar characters in philosophical thought experiments. They are like people in every way except they have no internal experience… If there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/zombies-are-familiar-characters-in-philosophical-thought-experiments/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [We're losing track of the vastness of the potential for computer science. We really have to revive the beautiful intellectual joy of it, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/we-re-losing-track-of-the-vastness-of-the-potential-for-computer/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [Of all the things you can spend a lot of money on, the only things you expect to fail frequently are software and medicine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/of-all-the-things-you-can-spend-a-lot-of-money-on-the-only-things-you/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [ At the turn of the \[21st\] century it was really Sergey Brin at Google who just had the thought of, well, if we give… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/at-the-turn-of-the-21st-century-it-was-really-sergey-brin-at-google/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [The mass culture of childhood right now is astonishingly technical. Little kids know their Unix path punctuation so they can get around the Web,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/the-mass-culture-of-childhood-right-now-is-astonishingly-technical/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [Wal-Mart impoverished its own customer base. Google is facing exactly the same issue long-term, although not yet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/wal-mart-impoverished-its-own-customer-base-google-is-facing-exactly/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) [Explore all 173 Jaron Lanier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) ## More Information Space quotes > [The more you enter, the more you become locked in. Your social-networking site becomes a central platform - a closed silo of content, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/the-more-you-enter-the-more-you-become-locked-in-your-social/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) > [The story of the growth of the World Wide Web can be measured by the number of Web pages that are published and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/the-story-of-the-growth-of-the-world-wide-web-can-be-measured-by-the/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) > [Everything that exists is information, and everything that is informative also exists. The infosphere is not a virtual space that is distinct from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-burda/everything-that-exists-is-information-and-everything-that-is/) [Hubert Burda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-burda/) > [If you can design the physical space, the social space, and the information space together to enhance collaborative learning, then that whole milieu turns…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-seely-brown/if-you-can-design-the-physical-space-the-social-space-and-the/) [John Seely Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-seely-brown/) > [The dream behind the Web is of a common information space in which we communicate by sharing information.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/the-dream-behind-the-web-is-of-a-common-information-space-in-which-we/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) Browse all 6 Information Space quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Wouldn’t it be easier just to treat the information space as a public resource and tax or charge companies somehow for the benefit of using it?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jaron Lanier" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the-information-space-as-a-public/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Information Space" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the-information-space-as-a-public/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/57c/jaron-lanier-2241_information-space_wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the_1694109.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/57c/jaron-lanier-2241_information-space_wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the_1694109.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/57c/jaron-lanier-2241_information-space_wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the_1694109.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Wouldn’t it be easier just to treat the information space as a public resource and tax or charge companies…” — Jaron Lanier", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jaron Lanier", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Wouldn’t it be easier just to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the-information-space-as-a-public/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/wouldn-t-it-be-easier-just-to-treat-the-information-space-as-a-public/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```