There's no question the Internet has put what was once considered by real estate brokers and agents as highly secretive, almost classified information about their listings into the hands of the masses.

But that could end if Congress doesn't protect the data realty professionals compile from theft, reuse and distribution, a industry spokesman warned here last week.

"The piracy of online data poses a threat to everyone who is using the Internet to gain real estate information," said Dennis Cronk, the Roanoke, Va., broker who is president of the National Association of Realtors.

The 750,000-member NAR, which has been named one of the Capital's 25 most-powerful lobbying groups for three straight years by Fortune magazine, is backing a bill that would prohibit the copying, repackaging and re-marketing of data collection that is compiled, packaged and presented in a certain manner by individuals in the course of their business.

Although much of the information is public record, it is the arrangement of the facts that makes them unique, the measure's supporters maintain.

With 176 co-sponsors, the bill, "The Collections of Information Antipiracy Act," cleared the House Judiciary Committee last year and is now awaiting full consideration by the House. A companion bill has not been introduced in the Senate, however.

Many realty professionals are only now just becoming comfortable with sharing their listings with consumers. But they are concerned about "the misuse and abuse (by others) of that which we put together," Cronk said at a Newsmaker Breakfast at the National Press Club.

The industry leader said NAR has documented "dozens" of cases of piracy. "They are using our efforts for their own personal gain," he charged.

For now, the cases are being pursued under copyright law, which says that while factual material cannot be copyrighted, the information is protected because of the descriptive terminology and photos that accompany listings of houses for sale.

But eventually, Cronk warned, persons who purloin the data will become "technically savvy enough" to rip-off the factual information alone. So lawmakers need to act now. "If they can get the information themselves," he said, "they shouldn't be allowed to use what we put together."

The Virginia Realtor said the situation is not unlike the beginnings of multiple listing services 50 years ago. The creation of the MLS "helped create an orderly marketplace," Cronk said.

Before the MLS, realty pros jealously guarded their listings and "never shared information," he explained. Then they began working a out a commission-splitting arrangement as well as a "primitive form of sharing" whereby they exchanged 3-by-5 cards containing listing data.

Nowadays, many of the nation's 900 listing services are fully computerized and on-line for anybody to see, 24-7. About the only thing missing is the seller's name and phone number, a necessity to prevent would-be buyers from bypassing the listing agent.

Cronk attributed last year's record number of home sales in part to the latest technology. "It really has had a positive impact on the industry," he said, noting that 23 percent of all buyers start their search on-line, up from only 2 percent just three years ago.

Again, though, agents are only just now getting used to sharing listings with the general public. And now that their work is being copied to be used elsewhere and, in some cases, being sold back to them or to others, they are understandably skittish. So much so, said their leader, that the further development of the Internet as a source of real estate information is threatened.

Worse, he explained, the information thief is under no obligation to keep the list current or to remove listings once properties are sold. Also, the thief can sell addresses to moving companies or other mass marketers, and demand payments from brokers for buyer referrals.

"It is the right of the real estate practitioner and home owner to decide where the listing should appear," Cronk said. "No one else should have the ability to press a button, copy listings to another site, and use those listings as their own."

Last year, NAR members placed 5,000 phone calls and e-mails to Congress on the database protection issue. And if the measure hasn't moved by the time the association comes to town for its May legislative meetings, Cronk promised to crank up the grassroots machine once again.

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Published: January 25, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.