As issues surrounding the Internet heat up, more questions are being raised by
NAR members as to the proper and fair use their data online. I am proposing
Internet standards to be considered by the NAR.
The issues that need to be addressed in the NAR Code of Ethics are:
1. Legal: Adherence to all Federal, State and local license laws that
govern real estate.
a. Fraud, theft, misrepresentation, Fair Housing compliance, Copyright
Infringement, Trademark infringement, Cyber Piracy, RESPA etc…
2. Ethical: NAR Code of Ethics
a. Public image, unfair advantage, Fair Housing, Copyright Infringement,
public perception of our conduct, REALTORS public image, and interaction, and
good will with all REALTOR members.
NAR INTERNET /E-COMMERCE ISSUES
Internet / E-Commerce Ethics
This National Association of REALTORS (NAR) Internet / E-Commerce Ethics
should be subordinate to, and conform to the current (NAR) REALTOR Code of
Ethics in scope, spirit and intent of that NAR Code, and expands the coverage
of those ethics to member REALTORS exposure, advertising, marketing efforts,
e-commerce and all electronic transactions, in all forms of existing Internet
/ E-commerce, and emerging Internet and e-commerce media.
The Internet / E-Commerce standards that are to be set forth in this
REALTORS (NAR) Code Ethics should be designed to maintain and enhance the high
standards of professional and ethical conduct we espouse as members
subscribing to the (NAR) REALTOR Code of Ethics. As members of the National
Association of REALTORS (NAR), we embrace these values both for our public
image and perception, and as a trusted source of professional conduct and
service to our nation, state and local government and local communities in
which we serve in a new emerging electronic age.
As members of the NAR, our corporate, and individual of Internet /
E-Commerce sites will comply with the standards set forth in our NAR) REALTOR
Code of Ethics, and comply with all federal, state, and local laws and
standards that govern, Fair Housing, RESPA, licensure, disclosure, and comply
to our local Multiple Listing Services (MLS) agreements.
As members of the NAR, our complying sites on our main page (or as directed
to comply with state, or local license laws for real estate licensees) will
display licensees: Broker of record and / or agent’s brokerage affiliation,
full address of record of registered brokerage under state real estate license
laws, contact information, a REALTOR logo and Fair Housing Logo.
ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED
- Unfair Internet / E-Commerce Marketing
As members of the NAR, REALTOR and our affiliate businesses, we may not
use the name of our competitors in any derogatory terms, or use illicitly
the names of other firms, agents or brokerage, in which we are not licensed
by governing body to use, to mislead or redirect the public either overtly
or covertly, by using: keywords, hidden text, meta tags, or descriptions,
java scripts, redirect pages, or html. Thus enhancing our own Internet /
e-commerce position by purposeful manipulation of the viewing public or
potential customers or clients and against their knowledge. (This Article
further expands (NAR) REALTOR Code of Ethics, Article 15)
Explanation (REALTORS shall ensure a true presentation in all
advertising) states:
A Realtor shall not use as search engine keywords for his/her Internet
web sites, the trade names or trade marks of any firm, franchise, board or
organization other than those with which the Realtor is affiliated or
otherwise authorized in writing to use.”
This interpretation deals directly with the inappropriate use of a
process called “meta-tagging” on Internet web sites. When a web site is set
up, an invisible field of keywords is developed to increase the chances of a
search engine returning that site when a user conducts a search. For
instance, a real estate practitioner in New York may insert “New York real
estate” as some of the keywords so that someone searching for those terms
might bring up his or her site.
The problem arises when keywords are inserted which not only have nothing
to do with the site, but are actually misleading. A salesperson, for
example, who is working for one franchise and puts the name of another
franchise in his or her keyword field to lead surfers to their site is
attempting to profit in an improper manner from someone else’s name or
reputation. U.S. courts have already held this to be a trademark
infringement. This practice is now specifically prohibited.
A Realtor shall not use misleading ip addresses / urls or redirect
scripts to mislead the public for his/her Internet web sites.
Explanation a viewer may type in a website address believing he / she is
going to view one website (example http://www.johnsmith.com and unbeknownst
to him / her… actually be redirected to another website of a competitor
http://www.johnjones.com ) This practice is fraudulent and unethical and may
also violate copyright, trademark infringement, and cyber piracy.
- USE OF DISPLAYED DATA
As members of the NAR, and conforming to the (NAR) REALTOR and conducting
business or advertising via Internet / E-Commerce, members will comply with
all applicable state laws governing advertising and disclosure, and local
brokerage or / MLS agreements in the displaying of these listings, both
rental and sales. These listings may be the REALTORS, brokers, or affiliated
broker’s or by agreement under broker reciprocity, IDX. Within the control
of the member’s control, listings data or information displayed will be as
current as possible.
1-1
As members of the NAR, we will not use illicit databases of listings that
are not our own, or used without consent or knowledge of the rightful owners
of that data. This applies to downloaded data on listings from a MLS or
other data source then publishing to our own sites, or by framed pages or
links, that make this illicit use of data appear as our own.
1-2
As members of the NAR, we will guard the information given by clients and
customers as private and confidential. This includes using secure servers (SSL
encryption) for transmission of social security, financial terms, credit and
other very personal and confidential information. Non- secure transmission
of such private information without a secure platform, is deemed unethical
because it exposes confidential and personal information and creates an
unnecessary financial risk to our clients / customers.
1-3
As members of the NAR, aggregation of data and information of the viewing
public, clients or customers must be dome with full disclosure allowing the
viewer the option to proceed, or the option to withdraw or opt-out at
anytime from our follow-up contact. A collection of such data must be in an
overt manner, and full knowledge of the viewer. Data must not be gathered by
means of a hidden script without the knowledge or consent of the viewer
/client /customer.
1-4
As members of the NAR, data must not be gathered by fraudulent means or
from a Internet / e-commerce site that is not identified as a real estate
related site, or gathering information by means of fraudulent surveys,
cookies, or html, java or scripts that gather data.
1-5
As members of the NAR, collected data gathered from our Internet /
e-commerce sites must not be sold, traded to a third party without the
consent or knowledge of the viewer /client /customer.
Published: May 12, 2004
