County report card · Massachusetts
Essex County, Massachusetts
Partially ProtectedAudited 2026-08-24
County portal uses Imperva/Incapsula bot detection which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 823,938
- Portal
- Assessor & Recorder
- Portal vendor
- Simplifile
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 challengeImperva
- Owner notificationUnknown
Portal audited: essex.patriotproperties.com/default.asp, www.essexma.org/treasurer-collector, massrods.com/essexnorth/, www.salemdeeds.com/
Doing well
- Technical barriers (imperva) 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.