County report card · Massachusetts
Barnstable County, Massachusetts
County portal uses Cloudflare bot detection which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 232,570
- Portal
- Assessor & Recorder
- Portal vendor
- Not identified
What the audit checked
Four low-cost protections every online records portal can have. How we rate counties.
- robots.txtYes — permissive
- Terms of useSilent on automation
- Bot challengeCloudflare bot detection
- Owner notificationUnknown
Portal audited: townofbarnstable.us/Departments/Assessing/Property_Values/Property-Look-Up.asp, www.invoicecloud.com/portal/(S(he22ecebmywj54kvcyjzuo4n))/2/customerlocator.aspx?iti=8&bg=e547f99d-4428-4d04-85c8-4c7b2efb3256&vsii=1&return=Site.aspx%3fG%3dc60b5ea3-c6da-4059-b1f4-706208edcd99, www.capecod.gov/departments/registry-of-deeds/
Doing well
- Technical barriers (cloudflare) that deter casual bulk access
Room to grow
- Expanding the robots.txt file to disallow automated scrapers
- Updating the Terms of Use to prohibit automated access
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.