County report card · Texas
Harris County, Texas
County portal uses Cloudflare bot detection which deters automated access but may be bypassed by determined actors
- Population
- 5,009,302
- Portal
- Assessor & Recorder
- Portal vendor
- Simplifile
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 challengeCloudflare bot detection
- Owner notificationUnknown
Portal audited: hcad.org/property-search/property-search, www.cclerk.hctx.net/RealProperty.aspx, www.hctax.net/Property/ViewStatementReceipts, arcweb.hcad.org/parcelviewer/, mycity.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=54b1132148c540a9ae8a88d461d84d8b
Doing well
- Technical barriers (cloudflare) 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.