County report card · Ohio
Athens County, Ohio
Partially ProtectedAudited 2026-08-24
County portal uses reCAPTCHA verification which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 63,218
- 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 challengereCAPTCHA
- Owner notificationUnknown
Portal audited: www.co.athensoh.org/departments/recorder/index.php, www.athenscountyauditor.org/, www.athenscountytreasurer.com/, www.athenscountyauditor.org/Search
Doing well
- Technical barriers (recaptcha) 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.