County report card · Pennsylvania
Clinton County, Pennsylvania
County portal uses an access restriction which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 37,865
- 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: clintonpamapping.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8e9d01e6230243558c95f62751a07ffd, www.clintoncountypa.gov/about-us/online-public-records-access, ccmm.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=79279a4018cc4a52a53cbf6fb17c4f3f, www.infoconcountyaccess.com/
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.