There are basically two kinds of communication on the web portion of the Internet: encrypted (scrambled) and not. When You need to be sure that you are not giving away sensitive information like your credit card number, the encrypted scheme is used. But how do you know when it is safe? First some background. The encrypted scheme, which the techies know as SSL (secure socket layer), was invented by Netscape back in the mid 90's. A newer version of that encryption, called TLS, is now being used. Since both SSL and TLS work basically the same way, I'll focus on SSL. Remember that it is a way to encrypt (scramble) your site so it can't be read by anybody but the site you are legitimately going to. What you need to be aware of is the two or more ways your browser tells you it is using SSL encryption. The web site's URL will start with "https://" instead of "http://", notice the 's'. There is an icon of a padlock at the bottom of your browsers screen and in some FireFox themes the address bar will change color. When the padlock is opened or doesn't exist there is no encryption. Learn how your br The safety lock is the easiest way to recognize how the site works. Whenever you are typing in your credit card number then always glance down at the safety lock and make sure it is closed. The fact that a site uses SSL means a couple of things:

• Your information can't be read by another since the information between you two is encrypted.
• You can trust the site to be reputable to some degree which it was able to prove when it applied for credentials by an industry-wise authority.
• The site is who it claims to be since it has those credentials or it wouldn't be able to read your information.

When you go to the site you might get a warning that the digital signature has expired. If that happens then proceed with caution and only use the site if you really, really trust it. The bottom-line is that you need to know how your browser communicates with you and use it to know when to be safe.