FRONTLINEPRIVACY

Privacy in Montana for first responders

What state law protects, what still leaks, and what we sweep beyond it.

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Address Confidentiality Program

Montana maintains a state-level program that lets eligible officers, judges, and other protected workers use a substitute address for public records.

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Public-records carve-outs

  • Mont. Code Ann. §2-6-1003 — public records safety exception covering public officers when disclosure threatens personal safety.
  • Mont. Code Ann. §40-15-118 — Address Confidentiality Program substitute-address protection, administered by the Montana DOJ.
  • Montana Department of Revenue Form AB-NonDisc — request for nondisclosure of property record information when disclosure threatens personal safety.
  • Montana SB 282 (effective May 14, 2025) — bars government purchase of personal data, sensitive metadata, and broker-aggregated information without a warrant.

Applicable laws

What protects you in Montana

Montana's framework is moderate. The strongest practical lever is Mont. Code Ann. §2-6-1003 — the public-records safety exception. If disclosure of your information would threaten your safety or your family's, you can ask the agency holding the record to withhold it. The statute is broad — it covers public officers generally, not first responders specifically — but cops, firefighters, and EMS qualify when the safety case is real.

Property records get a separate fix. The Montana Department of Revenue accepts Form AB-NonDisc — a request to redact your name from publicly available property records when display would threaten your safety. File it with supporting documentation explaining the risk. Most patrol cops will not have to argue the threat case hard.

Montana also passed SB 282 in 2025 — the first state law to close what EFF called the "law enforcement data broker loophole." It bars state and local government from buying broker-aggregated personal data without a warrant. It's not a private-action statute and won't get your address off Spokeo, but it's a meaningful structural lever.

What still leaks

  1. DMV records. Montana does not have a state-level DMV confidentiality election for officers. Federal DPPA is the only floor.
  2. Voter rolls. Montana's voter rolls are public and brokers buy them. There's no officer confidentiality designation in the voter file.
  3. Out-of-state brokers. Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and the rest pull from out-of-state aggregators. State law doesn't reach them.

Laws that work for you here

  • Mont. Code Ann. §2-6-1003 — file a written safety-exception request with each agency holding your information. Works when disclosure would threaten you or a household member.
  • Mont. Code Ann. §40-15-118 (ACP) — substitute-address program through the Montana DOJ. Eligibility runs through the victim-services portal.
  • Form AB-NonDisc — file with the Montana Department of Revenue to redact your name from publicly available property records.
  • SB 282 (2025) — bars government from buying broker data on Montanans without a warrant. Doesn't remove you from broker sites; does cap one downstream channel.
  • DPPA (federal) — the federal DMV protection that applies in every state. See DPPA.

What we sweep that the state doesn't

Montana's protections shield specific agency channels. The brokers don't honor them. We file opt-outs on 200+ people-search sites and re-check every two weeks. SB 282 closes a government channel; the broker side is where you actually live, and that's where we work. Run a free scan to see what's exposed today.

Run a free scan. No signup.