Privacy Policy

In order to operate First Multiple Listing Service, Inc., 5457 Roswell Road, Atlanta, GA 30342, www.fmls.com and www.fmlsstores.com (our “websites”), (“FMLS” or “we”), must ask you to provide us personally identifiable information about yourself.

This Privacy Policy describes the personally identifiable information we collect, use, disclose and protect. FMLS takes the privacy of your personally identifiable information very seriously and will use it only in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Additionally, in order to enhance the protection of your privacy and our compliance with this Privacy Policy, FMLS and this policy are notifying you of:

  • What personally identifiable information of yours is collected by FMLS.
  • How the personally identifiable information is used, and to whom the personally identifiable information may be disclosed.
  • What choices are available to you regarding collection, use and distribution of the personally identifiable information.
  • The kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of personally identifiable information under FMLS’s control.
  • How you can correct any inaccuracies in the personally identifiable information.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, you should first contact [email protected].

By obtaining a User Id and Password and using FMLS’ services and website, you agree to the terms contained in this Policy.

This Policy notifies you of:

  • Personal Information Collected Through our Website
  • Our Use and Disclosure of Your Personal Information
  • Choices You Have Regarding Our Collection and Use of your Personal Information
  • Security Procedures
  • How You Can Contact Us

A. INTRODUCTION

Definitions
“Personally identifiable information” is information, that is not otherwise publicly available, which can be used to distinguish or trace your identity, such as your name, phone number, e-mail address, Georgia Real Estate License Number, credit card number, etc. alone, or when combined with other personal or identifying information which is linked or linkable to you, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc.

“FMLS’ websites” includes all areas (public and private) of FMLS’s website, www.fmls.com, www.fmlsstores.com, www.georgiaopenhouses.com and all areas of our Membership and MLS databases.

“Cookie” is a small amount of data, often including an anonymous unique identifier, transmitted to your browser from a website, which includes electronic data about you and your computer. “Cookies” are stored on your computer’s hard drive.

Notification of Changes
This policy may be revised over time as new features are added to FMLS’ products and services, FMLS websites, or as we incorporate suggestions from you.

As we may make changes to this Policy, we will post the amended Privacy Policy prominently on our website so that you can always review it. By continuing to use the Website, you agree to this Policy and any updates.

The FMLS websites includes links to some third party websites. These sites are governed by their own privacy statements, and FMLS is not responsible for their operations, including but not limited to their information practices. If you submit personally identifiable information to or through these third party websites, you should review the privacy statement of these sites before providing them with personally identifiable information.

B. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Listing Data and Images
The nature of FMLS’s business is the gathering and sharing of data to facilitate real estate transactions, between member real estate professionals. When you enter a listing into the MLS system, the content and images associated with that listing become part of the copyrighted MLS listing database compilation. The use of the content and images is governed by FMLS’s Terms of Use. Use the link below for a copy of FMLS’s Terms of Use.

Required Information (“My Profile”)
To become a FMLS member, you must provide a variety of personally identifiable information, including but not limited to your name, address, phone number and e-mail address. FMLS collects personally identifiable information when you request information from FMLS, register for an FMLS store account, purchase merchandise from the FMLS Store Website or provide information to participate in the services and offerings on the Website. On such occasions, the Personal Information collected by or on behalf of FMLS may include, without limitation: your name, business name, email address, billing address, shipping address, telephone number and facsimile number. We may also collect credit card information in connection with the purchase of products or services made through the Website. You may also be asked to respond to additional questions to help us meet your needs.

Optional Information
If you choose to purchase optional products, you may be asked to provide additional personally identifiable information about yourself. FMLS may also collect similar personally identifiable information if you apply for a FMLS job or enter a FMLS contest.

In order to pay for your store purchases, you may provide a credit card or debit card. FMLS will not store your credit card information and it is only used for that one transaction.

There are certain circumstances where FMLS will allow the use of a credit card or debit card with the Finance Department. FMLS will not store your credit card information and it is only used for that one transaction.

Transaction Information
When you pay for products and services, we ask you to provide information related to each transaction, including the amount of the transaction, the particular invoice you wish to apply payment to, and your e-mail address. We retain this information for each of your transactions through FMLS. We also collect the Internet address (IP address) of the computer or device you use to access your FMLS account.

Website Traffic Data
We may collect certain non-personally identifiable information automatically when you visit the Website. This information may include, but is not limited to, records information from server logs found on your browser, your IP address and the type of web browser you are using to access the Website. We also collect statistics on which pages of our website you visit while you are on FMLS’s websites, the type of browser you use and the times you access our websites. We use this data only to try to understand your preferences better and to manage the load on our servers, so as to improve our service and your experience with FMLS. We may aggregate, use and share certain non-personally identifiable information and statistical information for research or marketing purposes only.

Use of Cookies. Cookies are small files of data that a Website transfers to an individual’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes while at the website. These cookies allow us to recognize you if you visit our various sites during the same session, so that you don’t need to re-enter your password multiple times. They also track the functions you performed while on our site. Once you log out or close your browser, these session cookies expire and no longer have any effect.
FMLS does not share information transferred through cookies with any third parties. FMLS does not use cookies to identify individuals or to retrieve information from your computer that was not originally sent in a cookie. Cookies help make FMLS better by showing us how and when guests use the Website. They do not, however, gather user specific information about persons who use the Website. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you’d prefer, you can set yours to refuse cookies. However, it is possible that some areas of the Website will not function properly if you do so.

Support Center Correspondence
If you send us correspondence, including e-mails and faxes, we may retain such correspondence in the records of your account. We may also retain Support Center correspondence and other correspondence from FMLS to you. We may retain some of these records in order to measure and improve our member services, and to investigate violations of our Rules and Regulations. We may, over time, delete these records.

Questionnaires and Surveys
From time to time, we may offer optional questionnaires and surveys to you for such purposes as collecting demographic statistics or assessing your interests and needs. The use of the data collected will be explained in detail in the survey itself. If we collect personally identifiable information from our members in these questionnaires and surveys, the members will be given notice of how the personally identifiable information will be used prior to their participation in the survey or questionnaire.

Non-member Communications and Personally Identifiable Information
You have the option to create customer and/or client contact information in the MLS system, which by its nature contains personally identifiable information on an individual who is not a FMLS member. FMLS will not use customer/client personally identifiable information or disclose that personally identifiable information to third parties.

When you send an e-mail through FMLS’s MLS system to a customer or client, we retain a copy of that e-mail, including, for example, the recipient’s name and e-mail address. We do this so you can see a complete history of your communications through the MLS system. Although this personally identifiable information is stored, we will not market to the non-member in any way, at any time. FMLS will not disclose any customer or client personally identifiable information to third parties.

When you send an e-mail through FMLS’s MLS system to a customer or client, that customer or client must choose to subscribe or unsubscribe from receiving e-mails from you. FMLS will not share the customer’s or client’s choice to subscribe or unsubscribe with any FMLS member, other than the member who initiated the request. FMLS does, however, reserve the right to share all customers’ subscription choices with any ISP (AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, etc.) if necessary to establish the legitimacy of FMLS’s MLS e-mail.

C. OUR USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

Listing Data and Images
When you enter a listing into the MLS system, the content and images associated with that listing become part of the copyrighted MLS listing database compilation. Ownership of FMLS’s MLS database compilation and each FMLS member’s “fair use” thereof is governed by FMLS’s Rules and Regulations. Use the link below for a copy of FMLS’s Rules and Regulations.

The property owner’s personally identifiable information included in a listing is not used by FMLS or disclosed to any third party.

Internal Uses
We use the personally identifiable information we collect about you in order 1) to provide our services and process your transactions, 2) to provide member service, 3) to determine your eligibility to receive offers for special features, products, and personally tailored communications and 4) to improve our products, services , and security.

We give access to personally identifiable information about you to our employees who we believe reasonably need to come into contact with that personally identifiable information to provide products or services to you, or in order to do their jobs, such as fulfill customer service requests. We require our employees to protect the privacy of personally identifiable information about our members.

Disclosure to Other Licensees
If you are a registered FMLS member, your name, office, office address and office phone/fax number are displayed to others when they perform a Member or Office Directory search using FMLS data. If you are a Broker/Owner, you may have access to additional personally identifiable information for each agent in your office such as their individual FMLS account information.

Disclosure of Financial Data
Any credit card number or other financial personally identifiable information will only be revealed to the extent necessary to process your transactions, unless we are required to disclose such personally identifiable information pursuant to a validly issued subpoena or other form of legal process.

Disclosure to Third Parties
FMLS will not disclose, sell or rent any of your personally identifiable information to third parties except in the limited circumstances described below, or unless you provide your express permission. These third parties are limited by law or by contract from using the personally identifiable information for secondary purposes beyond the purposes for which the personally identifiable information is shared.

We may share certain personal information we collect about you with third parties who perform services for us or with whom we contract for the purposes described in this Policy. For example, we may use third parties to host our web site, operate certain of its features, print or send mailings, authorize and process your payments, provide customer service, or assist in fulfilling your orders. These third-party service providers are given the Personal Information that they need to perform their designated functions and services for us and we do not authorize them to use or disclose your Personal Information for any other purpose.

We license content related to the advertisement and showing of properties on www.REALTOR.com. We also license this content to vendors of Internet Data Exchange and Virtual Office websites, and to other vendors that assist you in facilitating the real estate transaction.

In order to deliver certain services to members, such as ListingBook™, Kurio™, PropertyPanorama™, Wyldfyre™ and ListHub™, our service providers may have access to your personally identifiable information for use for a limited time in connection with these business activities to ensure optimum use of the service. Where we utilize third parties for the processing of any personally identifiable information, we implement reasonable contractual and technical protections limiting the use of that information to the FMLS-specified purposes.

Required and/or Legal Disclosures
We will disclose personally identifiable information that we in good faith believe is appropriate to cooperate in investigations of fraud or other illegal activity, or to conduct investigations of violations of our Rules and Regulations.

We will disclose personally identifiable information in response to a validly issued subpoena, warrant, court order, levy, attachment, order of a court-appointed receiver or other comparable legal process, including subpoenas from private parties in a civil action.

We will disclose personally identifiable information to your agent or legal representative (such as the holder of a power of attorney that you grant, or a guardian appointed for you).

As with any other business, it is possible that FMLS in the future could merge with another company. If this occurs, the successor company would have access to the personally identifiable information maintained by FMLS, including member account information, but would continue to be bound by this Privacy Policy unless and until it is amended as described in Section A above.

Our Contacts with FMLS Members
We communicate with you on a regular basis via e-mail to provide requested services, and we also communicate by phone to resolve complaints or investigate suspicious transactions. We use your e-mail address to send you invoices and notices of due dates, to send notices about important changes to our products and services, service announcements, confirmations of orders placed online, responses to member requests and to send notices and other disclosures required by law. Generally, you should not opt out of these communications as they will be primarily educational in nature rather than promotional.

We also use your e-mail address to send you other types of promotional communications, including the FMLS e-newsletter, member surveys and notices of special third-party promotions. You can opt out of these types of promotional emails by clicking on the “opt out” link at the bottom of your email from us.

In connection with independent audits of our financial statements and operations, the auditors may seek to contact a sample of our members to confirm that our records are accurate. However, these auditors cannot use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

Internet Address Information

We use IP addresses, browser types and access times to analyze FMLSs, administer the site, improve site performance and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.

Consent to Processing and Transfers of Information.

The servers that make our Web Site available and that store the information that is collected are located in the United States of America (“USA”). This Web Site is intended only for use in the USA. If you are located outside the USA, please note that the information you provide will be transferred to the USA which may not provide the same level of legal data protection as the country from which you access our Web Site. By using our Web Site and submitting personally identifiable information to FMLS, you consent to such transfers and the processing by FMLS of information as described in this Policy and authorize this practice.

D. INFORMATION SECURITY

FMLS is committed to handling your personally identifiable information with high standards of security. We restrict access to your personally identifiable information to employees who need to know that personally identifiable information in order to provide products or services to you or to perform their jobs. We enforce physical and electronic measures to guard your non-public personally identifiable information.

The security of your FMLS account also relies on your protection of your FMLS password. We require that you never share your FMLS password with anyone. If you do share your FMLS password with a third party for any reason, (other than by someone authorized by FMLS’s rules) you will be in violation of FMLS’s Rules and Regulations; the third party will have access to your account and your personally identifiable information, and you may be responsible for actions taken using your password. If you believe someone else has obtained access to your password, please log in to www.fmls.com and change your password in “My FMLS” and contact us right away as described below.

FMLS collects forensic access data on login sessions including, but not limited to, keystroke dynamics, locations, time of day, devices, browsers, operating systems, and networks in order to further protect your password, ensure that your login credentials are validated, and secure your sensitive information.

Data Security and Encryption
The security of your personally identifiable information, is the core of our business and a top priority at FMLS. We employ various reasonable security measures designed to help protect the Personal Information that we collect about you. FMLS uses Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) with an encryption key length of 128-bits in the transmission of Personal Information to FMLS. We have instituted industry standard security procedures and measures to protect our servers and networks that store Personal Information. Unfortunately, no transmission of information over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure and therefore we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any such information.

Once your personally identifiable information reaches us, it resides on a server that is heavily guarded both physically and electronically. Our servers sit behind an electronic firewall, so your personally identifiable information is available only to authorized computers.

E. ACCESSING AND CHANGING YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

FMLS reserves the right to retain any personal information reasonably necessary to appropriately document its business activities and for archival and record retention purposes. We will store your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy.

You can review the personally identifiable information you provided us and make any desired changes to such personally identifiable information, or to the settings for your FMLS account, at any time by logging in to www.fmls.com and changing your personally identifiable information in “My FMLS.” Further, you have the right to request corrections to your Personal Information we have collected via the web site through the means provided on the web site or by sending a request to FMLS as provided below.

If/when you are no longer a FMLS member, we will mark your account in our database as “Terminated,” but will retain your personally identifiable information in our database.

F. Questions about our Policy

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, FMLS’s information practices, or your dealings with FMLS, you can send a request with your concerns or any further questions to us by e-mail at [email protected] or by mail at:

First Multiple Listing Service, Inc.
5457 Roswell Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30342
404-255-4219

Last Updated: June 11, 2012