The US Department of Justice has issued a ruling about the MLS.

http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/reports/223094.htm

You can read the whole version of “Competition in the Real Estate Industry” at the above link

“Until today, most Internet-based real-estate brokers were considered second-class citizens, and their clients were left in the cold. But perhaps that will change with today’s news that the Department of Justice has reached a proposed settlement with the National Association of Realtors that requires NAR to let Internet-based residential real estate brokers compete with traditional brokers. NAR has agreed to be bound by a 10-year settlement, under whose terms NAR will repeal its anticompetitive policies and require affiliated multiple listing services to repeal their rules that were based on these policies.” (Posted at http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/27/2044207&from=rss)