County report card · Wisconsin
Columbia County, Wisconsin
Vendor policy on automation has not been resolved
- Population
- 58,113
- 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: ascent.co.columbia.wi.us/LandRecords/PropertyListing/RealEstateTaxParcel, www.co.columbia.wi.us/columbiacounty/clerkofcourts/Clerk-of-Courts/Services, www.co.columbia.wi.us/columbiacounty/countyclerk/County-Clerk-Home/DNR-Vehicle-Renewals, www.co.columbia.wi.us/columbiacounty/clerkofcourts/, www.co.columbia.wi.us/columbiacounty/clerkofcourts/Clerk-of-Courts/Paying-Clerk-of-Court-Fees-Fines, www.co.columbia.wi.us/ColumbiaCounty/registerofdeeds/RegisterofDeedsHomePage/tabid/52/Default.aspx, www.co.columbia.wi.us/columbiacounty/landinformation/, tapestry.fidlar.com, ascent.co.columbia.wi.us/LandRecords/PropertyListing/RealEstateTaxParcel#/Search, maps.sco.wisc.edu/Parcels/
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 protections that residents in other counties have found valuable:
1. Adding robots.txt rules that disallow automated scrapers
2. Including a Terms of Use that prohibits automated access
3. Implementing a notification system that alerts residents when their records are accessed (per the AZ, FL, HI, IL, UT model)
The full playbook is What Counties Can Do.