We help governments turn
bot traffic into public revenue.
PAID provides the policy framework, technical infrastructure, and data readiness services that municipalities need to lawfully charge for automated access to public data — while keeping it free for residents.
Your website is infrastructure.
Bots use it for free. You pay the bill.
Municipal websites are crawled at scale by commercial bots — data brokers, AI companies, aggregators — downloading property records, permits, meeting minutes, and budgets around the clock. The municipality pays for servers, bandwidth, and staff time to keep the site running. The bots pay nothing and resell the data for profit.
PAID builds the system that changes that. Policy that makes it lawful. Infrastructure that meters and charges. Data made worth paying for.
- Server bandwidth consumed by automated crawlers
- Infrastructure scaled to absorb bot load
- Staff time managing traffic spikes and incidents
- Slower site performance for actual residents
- Zero revenue returned for any of it
PAID's policy framework is informational research, not legal counsel. Before adopting any ordinance or implementing any fee program, a municipality must consult its own attorney and, in New York, the Committee on Open Government.
Policy, infrastructure, data.
One program, three disciplines.
A lawful paid-access program requires all three. We deliver each, and integrate them.
Policy & Legislation
- Drafting and adapting model ordinances for your jurisdiction
- Legal framework review with your municipal attorney
- Fee schedule design (cost-recovery or revenue model)
- FOIL preservation compliance
- Privacy and exemption analysis
- Public communication strategy
We provide the legal scaffolding. Your attorney approves it.
Technical Infrastructure
- Bot detection and traffic analysis (what's hitting your site right now)
- API gateway deployment (Kong, AWS API Gateway, or Cloudflare)
- Rate limiting and tiered access configuration
- API key registration and authentication system
- Usage metering and billing integration
- CDN/WAF deployment for DDoS protection and performance
- Monitoring, logging, and audit trails
We build the pipes. You own them.
Data Readiness
- Data inventory and audit (what data do you actually have?)
- Format conversion (PDF → CSV/JSON, HTML tables → structured data)
- Schema design and standardization
- Metadata implementation (DCAT, schema.org)
- API publication (CKAN, Socrata, or custom)
- Data quality frameworks
- Privacy classification and redaction
We clean the data so it's worth paying for.
Three ways to engage.
Start with an assessment. Build the system. Or let us run it for you. Each is a standalone commitment — no bundled lock-in.
Assessment
We analyze your current bot traffic, data maturity, and legal readiness.
- Bot traffic audit (what's crawling your site, how much, from where)
- Data inventory and quality assessment
- Legal readiness review
- Revenue projection (conservative, grounded)
- Readiness scorecard
- Recommended next steps
Readiness Report + Revenue Projection
Contact for pricing
Implementation
We build the full system — policy, infrastructure, and data.
- Model ordinance adapted to your jurisdiction
- API gateway and bot management deployed
- First 3–5 priority datasets published as APIs
- Fee schedule and billing system configured
- Staff training and documentation
- 90-day post-launch support
Working paid access program
Contact for pricing
Ongoing Partnership
We maintain, optimize, and expand the program.
- Quarterly program review and optimization
- Fee schedule adjustments
- New dataset publication
- Security audits
- Annual transparency report preparation
- Legislative updates as needed
Managed program with continuous improvement
Contact for pricing
Built for public entities.
If you hold public data and serve the public, the framework applies to you.
Municipalities
Cities, towns, villages, counties.
State agencies
Departments and authorities operating at the state level.
Special districts
School districts, water districts, transit authorities.
Public authorities & benefit corporations
Entities operating with public data and public obligation.
PAID is jurisdiction-agnostic. The research is NY-focused; the implementation framework works anywhere with a public-records statute and home-rule authority.
Three steps. No pressure.
Reach out
Contact us. We'll have a 30-minute conversation about your situation. No cost, no commitment.
Assessment
We conduct a 2–4 week readiness assessment. You get a report with revenue projections and a recommended path.
Build
If you choose to proceed, we implement the full program: policy, infrastructure, and data.
Research first. Then we build it.
PAID isn't a slide deck firm. The entire framework is already written, cited, and ready to adapt — which is why implementation is fast and the risk is low.
Grounded, not speculative.
- Grounded in 73 cited sources. Not speculation — research.
- Sample legislation already drafted in two versions — cost-recovery and revenue.
- Every claim verified or flagged. Nothing fabricated.
- Written for officials, not lawyers. Plain language throughout.
Already mapped end to end.
- Implementation playbook already written — 15 sections covering procurement, staffing, budgets, and risk.
- Data organization guide already written — 14 sections on making data worth paying for.
- Built by Quigley Group — a systems advisory firm that uses AI to build real infrastructure, not slide decks.
Common questions.
Is this legal?
Yes, when structured as cost-recovery with FOIL preserved. See our research.
Will this block residents from accessing public records?
No. Free access for residents, journalists, and researchers is the core principle. Paid access is for commercial automated traffic only.
How much can we earn?
It depends on your data, traffic, and fee model. Use our revenue calculator for an estimate.
What if we don't have technical staff?
That's what we build. The system is designed to run with existing municipal IT capacity, or we can manage it for you.
Is this a one-time project or ongoing?
Both. We build the system, then optionally maintain and expand it.
Ready to turn your bot traffic into public revenue?
Start with a 30-minute conversation — no cost, no commitment. Or run the numbers yourself first with the revenue calculator.