County report card · New York
Clinton County, New York
County portal uses an access restriction which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 77,871
- 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 challengeAccess denied to automated clients
- Owner notificationUnknown
Portal audited: cotthosting.com/NYClintonExternal/User/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fnyclintonexternal, clinton.sdgnys.com/index.aspx, www.clintoncountygov.com/treasurer, clinco.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=65e91149b95842efa87689d950478b8d
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.