Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 30. TRADE AND COMMERCE

CHAPTER 14. UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

Part 17. Impediment of Identity Theft

Definitions

30-14-1702. Definitions. As used in 30-14-1701 through 30-14-1705, 30-14-1712, and 30-14-1713, unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply:

(1) (a) "Business" means a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other group, however organized and whether or not organized to operate at a profit, including a financial institution organized, chartered, or holding a license or authorization certificate under the law of this state, any other state, the United States, or any other country or the parent or the subsidiary of a financial institution. The term includes an entity that destroys records. The term also includes industries regulated by the public service commission or under Title 30, chapter 10.

(b) The term does not include industries regulated under Title 33.

(2) "Customer" means an individual who provides personal information to a business for the purpose of purchasing or leasing a product or obtaining a service from the business.

(3) "Electronic mail message" means a message sent to a unique destination, commonly expressed as a string of characters, consisting of a unique user name or electronic mailbox and a reference to an internet domain, whether or not displayed, to which an electronic message can be sent or delivered.

(4) "Individual" means a natural person.

(5) "Internet" has the meaning provided in 2-17-551.

(6) "Internet services provider" has the meaning provided in 2-17-602.

(7) "Personal information" means an individual's name, signature, address, or telephone number, in combination with one or more additional pieces of information about the individual, consisting of the individual's passport number, driver's license or state identification number, insurance policy number, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, passwords or personal identification numbers required to obtain access to the individual's finances, or any other financial information as provided by rule. A social security number, in and of itself, constitutes personal information.

(8) (a) "Records" means any material, regardless of the physical form, on which personal information is recorded.

(b) The term does not include publicly available directories containing personal information that an individual has voluntarily consented to have publicly disseminated or listed, such as name, address, or telephone number.

(9) "Website" means an electronic location that has a single uniform resource locator or other single location with respect to the internet.

History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 518, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 276, L. 2007.