Accessibility
The Department of Justice strives to conform to Section 508 accessibility guidelines and be consistent with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendations and other web industry standards. Although all of the content is accessible with browsers that support these standards, the appearance of the site depends on numerous things, including the operating system, web browser and version, screen size and resolution, and font/text size selected by the user.
Browsers
If you are using an older browser, you may want to consider upgrading to a web standards-compliant browser. Instructions for downloading and installing the free browsers are available at Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Download Files
Many of the forms and documents on our website are stored in a proprietary or special format, such as Portable Document Format (.pdf), Microsoft Word (.doc), Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) or Microsoft Excel (.xls). If you do not have the application needed to read a document’s format, the file can be viewed in your web browser by downloading and installing a free viewer on your computer. Carefully read and follow license agreements and instructions provided at each website before downloading the viewers.
View PDFs
Download Adobe Reader to view Portable Document Format (PDF) files. If you have questions about or problems with downloading, installing or using this product, visit the Adobe website.
If you have difficulty viewing a PDF file, you may need to upgrade or update to the latest version of Adobe Reader. Problems can include:
- you receive an Adobe Acrobat upgrade message
- the PDF file seems to be a blank page
- you receive the following error message: “There was an error processing a page. A font contains a bad CMap/Encoding.”
Some PDF files are large and may take a long time to download if you try to view them within your web browser. To speed this up, or if you have problems viewing a PDF file, save the file to your computer hard drive and then try opening it in Adobe Acrobat or Reader, rather than through your browser.
- Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac OS) on the link for the PDF file you need.
- Choose Save Target As in Internet Explorer.
- In the Save As dialog box, save the file on the Desktop or in a folder where you will be able to find it again.
- After the file download is complete, start Adobe Acrobat or Reader.
- Open the PDF file you saved to your computer.
See Adobe’s technical support document 328233 for more information about PDF files that don’t appear in your web browser window.
Fill in PDF Forms
To save a PDF form with the typed in text on your computer or share drive, you must have Adobe Reader 7.03 or later.
View Microsoft Files
If you have questions about or problems with downloading, installing or using Microsoft products, visit the Microsoft website.
- Download Microsoft Word Viewer to view Word files.
- Download Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer to view PowerPoint files.
- Download Microsoft Excel Viewer to view Excel files.
Print Problems
If you have difficulty printing a page from this website, you may want to consider viewing and printing the page in another browser. You may also try changing the page margins and/or scaling options in your web browser’s page setup. If you are still unable to print, see the Contact the Webmaster section below.
Print PDF Files
If you can open and view a PDF file, but it fails to print correctly (e.g., the printed output does not match what is on the screen), you may try the following:
- Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac OS) on the link for the PDF file you need.
- Choose Save Target As in Internet Explorer.
- In the Save As dialog box, save the file on the Desktop or in a folder where you will be able to find it again.
- After the file download is complete, open the PDF file with Adobe Acrobat or Reader.
- From the File menu, choose Print.
- In the Print dialog, click Advanced and choose the Print as image option.
- Click OK.
Note: When you print a PDF file as an image, it may take longer to print.
Print from Firefox
Firefox has several known print-related issues, including the following:
- Print preview – Print preview does not match printed pages and PDFs.
- Long tables – If a table spans more than one printed page, several issues can arise. For instance, text prints on top of text, the table will not print on the first page and bumps to the second page, only sections of the table print, and the footer graphic sometimes cuts off.
- GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) Images – Firefox does not accurately print transparent GIFs — graphic images or logos through which you can see the background. When printed, a white box appears around the image if it is against a background color.
Contact the Webmaster
There are several ways you can find information on our website, including:
- Navigate the site using the categories and associated drop-down menus below the photo banner at the top of each page
- Follow the sitewide links at the bottom of each page
- Search for information using the form on either our home page search page
If you need further assistance or want to report a possible website error, contact the department webmaster at [email protected]. When reporting a broken link, be sure to paste the bad URL into the body of the e-mail message.
Disclaimer Statement
No endorsement is intended or made of any hypertext link, product, service or information either by its inclusion or exclusion from this page or site. While the Department of Justice makes all attempts to ensure the correctness and suitability of information under its control and to correct any errors brought to its attention, no representation or guarantee can be made as to the correctness or suitability of that information or any other linked information presented, referenced or implied. All critical information should be independently verified. Questions about information on this site should be directed to the department contact at [email protected].
Privacy and Security Statement
The purpose of this statement is to inform website users of the use of information that may be collected while they are visiting the Department of Justice’s website.
The Department of Justice respects each individual website user’s right to privacy. Any personal information that is collected will not be disclosed to any third party except as required by applicable law, unless the website user has expressly permitted the disclosure or “opted in” to allow the disclosure.
Citizens and businesses are not routinely asked to provide personal information to visit the website. We may request personally identifiable information from you in order to provide requested specialized services, but such information is handled as it would during an in-person visit to our office.
Montana law controls the level of access to personally identifiable information maintained in public records at state and local levels of government. Information that is generally available under Montana law may be posted for electronic access through the website.
Use of Constituent E-mail Addresses
E-mail addresses obtained as a result of a request to the website will not be sold or given to other private companies for marketing purposes unless it is specifically stated when the e-mail address is requested and the user “opts in” to having their e-mail used in the stated fashion. The information collected is subject to the access and confidentiality provisions of Montana Code and Federal law. E-mail or other information requests sent to the website may be maintained in order to respond to the request, forward that request to the appropriate agency, communicate updates to the website that may be of interest to citizens, or to provide the website designers with customer feedback to assist in improving the site. Individuals will be provided with the ability to “opt in” at any time to receive communication regarding new service updates.
Data Security and Quality
The department is committed to data security and the data quality of personally identifiable information that is either available from or collected by the website, and has taken reasonable precautions to protect personally identifiable information from loss, misuse or alteration. Any third parties responsible for this information are committed to the same principles, and also are required by contract to follow the same policies and guidelines as the State of Montana in protecting this information. Unless otherwise prohibited by state or federal law, rule or regulation, the individual is granted the ability to access and correct personally identifiable information whether or not the information inaccuracy was accidental or created by unauthorized access.
Other Websites
Various websites may be linked through the website. Since the department has no control over these websites, visitors to those sites are advised to check their privacy statements and be cautious about providing personally identifiable information without a clear understanding of how the information will be used. The department accepts no liability for other entities that are linked to the website.
Website Security
For information security purposes, the computer systems that host the website employ software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to compromise its devices. These attempts to cause damage could be subject to legal action.
Definitions
Personally identifiable information: means individually identifiable information about an individual collected online, including:
- first and last name
- residence or other physical address, including a street name and name of a city or town
- e-mail address
- telephone number
- Social Security number
- unique identifying information that an Internet service provider or a government website operator collects and combines with any information described above
State of Montana Policy
- Internet Privacy and Security Policy (PDF) (an external website)