Hi Scott --
Thanks for your note. This helps.
You write that, "my wife and I are considering moving up to a larger house in our area, so we are interested in the issues involved in buying and selling a home."
From your comment -- and correct me if I am wrong -- you are a prospective buyer and seller and not a licensee or someone involved with posting data online. In essence you are a consumer and wonder how the debate regarding broker obligations to advertise may impact you. Fair enough.
Let's go through your four questions:
1) Exactly what do you mean by "pirating" broker data? MLS data, the aggregation of facts, figures, photos, coding, and comments by brokers has enormous value. It was not "free" to acquire and it is not "free" to maintain. In general terms, it is this "data" which some claim is now public.
2) Who is doing it? There have been a number of instances where listings from Broker Smith have magically wound up on sites not authorized to post such data. The question that emerges here is what happens if this practice becomes more common.
3) Who is making these arguments "defending" it? On various newsgroups for brokers the issue has been debated consistently over the past two years.
4) How does it affect me as a home buyer or seller?
This is an excellent question.
If broker data can be posted anywhere without compensation or control, then as a buyer you may find yourself looking at online listings which have been sold (are no longer available), are under contract, or contain information which is incomplete or incorrect. You could, in some instances, be dealing with unlicensed, out-of-state, parties, which means that bonding and guarantee fund money won't be available if you are defrauded.
As a seller, you may find that in a few years you will have far fewer local brokers from whom to choose -- and you may find that fees are higher as a result -- because many of today's brokers will effectively be forced to pay advertising and referral fees to online sites with large buyer followings.
All the best.
Peter G. Miller
OurBroker(r)
http://www.ourbroker.com
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