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Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
Internet Policies Explained

Since January 1st 2002, the NAR (National Association of Realtors) has mandated that all MLS users must offer their participants a way to display the listings of other participants on their own web sites. Making the data publicly accessible to consumers on the Internet made it difficult to maintain ultimate control over the data. Since 2002 many policies have been published by the NAR to address the problem.

Policy One - Internet Data Exchange (IDX)

This was the first policy published by the NAR and is known by several names, Internet Data Display (IDD) and Broker Reciprocity(sm). Under this policy, MLS participants are allowed to download the listing information of other participants and display this information on their own website. MLS participants can opt out from this program and not allow other participants to use their listings on either a blanket or listing-by-listing basis. However, if a participant opts-out they are not allowed to display the listings of other participants on their website. It is important to note that this policy sets the initial guidelines for how this program is to be implemented but many specific requirements in each market depend largely on state regulations and local MLS rules.

Policy Two - Virtual Office Website (VOW)

The VOW policy was adopted on May 17, 2003 by the NAR. It differs from the IDX policy in that the IDX policy addresses Internet advertising activities, while VOW is premised on the establishment of broker-consumer relationships and delivery of brokerage services. The main difference between IDX and VOW is the ability for the broker to selectively or generally withhold their clients. listings from other VOW operators. This would allow traditional brokers who are concerned about competition from Internet-savvy brokers to selectively withhold their listing data. This policy was immediately met with criticism and is currently under an ongoing antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which deemed the VOW policy as anti-competitive.

Policy Three - Internet Listing Display (ILD)

The ILD policy consolidates and replaces both the Virtual Office Website (VOW) and Internet Data Exchange (IDX) policies to create a single, unified policy governing the Internet display of all property information originating from multiple listing services (MLSs). Under this new policy, MLS participants will not have the ability to selectively opt-out from participating in the sharing of listings; rather they can blanket opt-out. By default all participants are opted-in, and only are opted-out when they provide in writing to their local MLS the desire to withdraw. When a participant opts-out they may not display the listings of any other participants on their website. The participant may however still display their listings on third party websites such as Realtor.com. This policy is currently awaiting adoption by local MLSs until the litigation between the NAR and DOJ is complete.