County report card · Indiana
Steuben County, Indiana
County portal uses a JavaScript challenge which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors; its robots.txt also disallows automated access to 14 paths (/prod/court/ViewCaseActors, /prod/in/court/ViewCaseActors, /prod/mi/court/ViewCaseActors…)
- Population
- 34,862
- Portal
- Assessor & Recorder
- Portal vendor
- Schneider Geospatial
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 challengeJavaScript required
- Owner notificationUnknown
Portal audited: www.doxpop.com/prod/in/common/ViewCountyDetails?countyId=18151, beacon.schneidercorp.com/?site=SteubenCountyIN, www.in.gov/dlgf/understanding-your-tax-bill/assessed-value-search/
Doing well
- Technical barriers (js_required) 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.