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Proposal To Expand USPAP To Include A New Service Type: Valuation Of Information

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RCA

Elite Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2017
Professional Status
Certified General Appraiser
State
California
I would like to suggest adding a new standard to USPAP for "Information Valuation", so that businesses and the general public have a way of differentiating fact from opinion when it comes to news and other important such types of information; as well as assigning a value to critical information for decision making purposes.

Licensing for news journalism requires enforcement and you would likely never get the Association of Journalists or any similar organization to adopt stringent licensing of its information providers. https://bizfluent.com/info-12056426-need-license-journalist.html

There are increasingly major problems determining the value of information that is stolen, lost or otherwise compromised through hacking:

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/06/09/study-hackers-cost-more-than-445-billion-annually

As an Intangible Asset, it appears that Information, as an asset, has never yet been considered by USPAP.

A relatively easy way to set up licensing of "News Journalists" as opposed to "Opinion Journalists" (and at the same time cover all information appraisal) would be to expand the existing USPAP Standards to include "Information Valuation". Under USPAP, that would require expanding the concept of property to include "Information".

In fact, in many cases, information is considered property with value. Contracts are created based on agreements to the dissemination (or non-dissemination) of information, the secrecy and security of information, the extent to which given assertions do or don't represent reality. Information (and disinformation) is often very prized and is associated with monetary value.

Security Analysts and IT Administrators expend considerable time, effort and expense designing networks and server configurations to protect information based on its value to corporate, government and other legal entities. Their numerous tasks would be made easier if they could assign value to the different categories of information they need to store and protect.

Information that can be sold on the open market has associated with it a "market value". The monetary value of information is often associated with a measure that could be called "probability of truth" - which depends on the amount and quality of supporting documentation, much as in real estate appraisal. It is also often associates with damage losses through theft or mismanagement. Stealing information is often undertaken simply to cause severe damage to a company, the government or some other entity.

While information can have a monetary value; additional measures of value are also needed, e.g. the probability that one or more statements represent the truth. Licensed News Journalists should be able to give a range or probabilities that some statement reflects the truth. And, there should be standards that specify how such estimates are derived. Likewise, there should be standards for estimating the value of corporate information that has been compromised via hacking or mismanagement.

The new professional designation would be something like "Licensed Information Appraiser". Would the public and media latch on to this as a means to enhancing their own marketability? I certainly believe so! Facts from "Licensed Information Appraisers" would take precedence over statements by non-licensed news journalists.

If you are interested, I have a petition to this effect: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pe...ractice-service-types-include-newsinformation
 
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Modern day Yellow Journalists will take this proposal and spin it as the White House
(read T) is attempting to hamstring reporters; they'll scream censorship.
As for me, I'll settle for a little truth, or just some reporting without *any* helpful interpretation (spin).
 
It's going to take me a little while to absorb and wrap my head around "valuation of information". Very creative and interesting topic.
 
As an Intangible Asset, it appears that Information, as an asset, has never yet been considered by USPAP.
Read further in USPAP. :). STANDARDS 9 and 10 are often referred to as the business valuation standards, but they are actually the standards for appraisal of any type of intangible asset. What more is it that you are seeking?
 
Now I have to read USPAP standards 9 and 10.
 
I would love to see how information is appraised.
 
It looks like information or IP is typically not valued by licensed appraisers but is valued using the same market, cost, and income methods.
 
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What are your standards for discerning what is information and what is disinformation?
Can you say murky at best, open sewer at worst? (DC) :peace:
 
I would love to see how information is appraised.
Start with your personal information, SS#, drivers license, address, signature, all on file with, how many AMCs that could go belly up, with all that valuable information. You been boxed?

.
 
Start with your personal information, SS#, drivers license, address, signature, all on file with, how many AMCs that could go belly up, with all that valuable information. You been boxed?

.

My information is probably worth a dollar on the dark web.
 
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