County report card · North Carolina
Brunswick County, North Carolina
County portal uses an access restriction which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 167,112
- 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 useNot checked
- Bot challengeAccess denied to automated clients
- Owner notificationUnknown
Portal audited: www.nccourts.gov/locations/brunswick-county/contact-directory, www.brunswickcountync.gov/579/Clerk-to-the-Board-of-Commissioners, rod.brunsco.net/, brunswick-live.inttek.net/, www.municipalonlinepayments.com/OAKISLANDNC/tax/search, brunsco.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=6df283e1aa634006baeedf6daac40d38, tax.brunsco.net/ITSNet/
Doing well
- Technical barriers (access_denied) 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.