It’s the what? The Information Age. So what is the coin of the realm? Information. I receive about 20 to 50 requests for information every day (software updates, credit card info requests, GPS tracking in my cell phone, car, toll booth tracking, gas pump requests, purchase card tracking, NSA deep-cover agents analyzing my library books, you know, just like you). MySpace asks for my password every time I use it, even though it has an option to “remember my password,” which never works, I might add.

If I received a nickel for every “information transaction,” it would amount to between $1.00 to $2.50 per day, or on the conservative end, roughly $365 per year. And that’s just for info I know about — there are probably dozens more transactions being calculated by Amazon, Google, Yahoo, credit companies, info being sold to other corporations, mailing lists, etc. A nickel back from Amazon for the $25.00 book I just bought seems like a bargain for my info. It would also kill spam deader than a politician’s sense of shame, but the worst spam is illegal already, so it might be a wash.

After all, it’s your information, not theirs. Did it ever gall you that credit companies knew your credit score and you didn’t? Now they are required to share that information, free. Corporations behave as if your information is not worth anything to you, but that argument is blown out of water by the fact that they all want it. That’s the very definition of "valuable."

It’s a consumer rebellion waiting to happen.

And you know what? Emperor Palpatine — oops, I meant Bill Gates — agrees with me. Sort of. Microsoft Chairperson Bill said the future of search “will not only include simple, intuitive user interfaces and results based on rich semantic data but it will also reward consumers for their engagement.” (Advertising Age, May 21, 2008).

What kind of reward? Ad Age continues: “Under the model, coined Live Search CashBack, an advertiser determines the cost it is willing to pay to sell a particular product via Live Search, a typical cost-per-acquisition pricing model. But instead of Microsoft getting the money when a consumer clicks on the search ad and fulfills the purchase, it offers that fee back to the customer in the form of a rebate. Microsoft doesn't make money on the ads.” I’m sure Mr. Bill plans to get paid somehow, probably through the transaction interest, but even if he is just trying to annoy Google, this idea may be headed the right direction.

I know that everyone would just crank their product costs up a nickel to compensate, but my plan would accomplish two things anyway: One, it would shift the paradigm that we are the owners of our own information, not some buzzing hive of sales organizations that are using that information against us to create a more ruthlessly efficient sales machine. It’s like asking us to provide GPS coordinates to the enemy so they can blow our heads off. Two, it would allow us to save something “invisibly,” with minimal pain, and show people that a trickle of incremental revenue streams can create a torrent if handled correctly. And folks, the amount of people lining up wanting your information isn’t getting any smaller.

CONSIDER A PERSONAL ACCOUNT in which a micropayment was added for every cookie on your hard drive, every bank transaction, every site that requires a password, every time you drive through an EZ Pass lane on the highway, every time an automatic deduction is made on your credit card. It would be like the old-fashioned Christmas clubs at the local bank. A little is taken out of every paycheck, and at the end of the year you have some extra cash for flat screens and Lazee Boys. Or even better — for charity. Talk about “stimulus packages.” This would be the gift that keeps on giving, at least until politicians figure out how divert the cash like they did Lotto tickets for “school funding.”

Most people forget that when ATMs were originally installed in banks, there was no charge for service. Why? Because it was a savings for the bank, who could alleviate long lines without having to hire an extra teller. In fact, most banks weren’t sure that ATMs would get any use — why would people want to do a faceless transaction with a machine? Wouldn’t people want to do financial services with someone they trusted? You mean, like people that charge us 10 to 20 percent for the privilege of withdrawing our own money?

And by the way, any business that answers their main office number with an labyrinthian phone tree is getting charged triple, just because I’m feeling cranky.

There it is, a societal shift in the making. All I need is a few tens of millions of people, half the Senate and the House of Representatives and probably a few Supreme Court Justices to join in.

—Loyd Boldman