County report card · North Dakota
Grand Forks County, North Dakota
County portal uses an access restriction which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 73,771
- Portal
- 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 challengeAccess denied to automated clients
- Owner notificationUnknown
Portal audited: www.gfcounty.nd.gov/our-county/property-taxes/gis-property-document-searches, www.ndrin.com/counties/grandforks/, gfcounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=33a7e18ae8f64660a86ecfb8ca3fa21b, gfcountytax.nd.gov/default.aspx
Doing well
- Technical barriers (access_denied) 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.