Quote:
Originally Posted by kensmith
That sucks. There isn't a way to set up an RSS feed that is subscription based? Don't know enough about RSS feeds to be helpful here, but trying to help anyways.
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Unfortunately, I
sorta can. The problem is an ambiguous measure of how far afoul I'd run of the VOW policies.
For what it's worth, there really aren't too many Laws imposed by MLSNI when it comes to VOW providers. In summation:
Thou shalt not mix listing sources.
Thou shalt not give listings to strangers.
Thou shall only turn strangers into friends with a password.
Thou must protect both listings and friends.
So, within the context of those four, we can do just about everything. The problem with RSS is that there's no standardized, encrypted authentication method. There are effectively two choices:
Network-based authentication: Those grey popup boxes requesting a username & password. You rarely see these in big systems because it means managing usernames & passwords in an OS-friendly format (or .htaccess for Apache). I can assure you that I will neither A) create a Windows account for every VOW visitor, nor B) manage per-site text files that include every username & password.
URL-encapsulated authentication: Putting a fancy token in the address that kinda-sorta uniquely identifies the requester (like we offer with Featured Properties URLs). The problem, here, is that that URL can be cut'n'pasted anywhere and used by anyone. So, in theory, someone could set up a few clever searches and cover a good chunk of the MLS, then feed a "new properties" site completely without our knowledge. As far as the server is concerned, you can't identify the requester source, and you can't really codify any usage pattern as being determinedly inhuman.
Unlike email, we can't control the flow of RSS, so we also can't control (or observe) the use of the data. And that's where everything gets really fuzzy... one could argue that we were adhering to the laws, while another could see the myriad ways our adherence could be skirted.
For safety's sake, I prefer to stay on the predictable side of the policy. Unlike certain providers in our area, we take what rules there are very seriously, and protect the listings & visitors' data as vigilantly as possible.
-Matt