County report card · Illinois
Winnebago County, Illinois
County portal uses reCAPTCHA verification which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 283,790
- Portal
- Assessor & Recorder
- Portal vendor
- Fidlar Technologies
What the audit checked
Four low-cost protections every online records portal can have. How we rate counties.
- robots.txtYes — permissive
- Terms of useNot checked
- Bot challengereCAPTCHA
- Owner notificationAvailable
Portal audited: wincoil.us/departments/recorder/links/, assessor.wincoil.gov/search/, rockfordtownshipassessor.net/parcelsearch/sd/rt/assessordb/Search.aspx, tapestry.fidlar.com, taxes.wincoil.gov/, wingis.org/maps/PropertySearch.html
Doing well
- A notification system that alerts residents when their records are accessed
- Technical barriers (recaptcha) that deter casual bulk access
Room to grow
- Expanding the robots.txt file to disallow automated scrapers
What to ask for
Three low-cost steps that have worked in other counties to close gaps like this one:
1. Adding clear robots.txt rules that disallow automated scrapers
2. Updating the Terms of Use to prohibit automated access
3. Implementing a notification system that alerts residents when their records are accessed
The full playbook is What Counties Can Do.