What is
Encryption?
Encryption is a process by which we use software to scramble
sensitive information while it is in transit to American Medical
Depot.
How Does
Encryption Work?
Encryption is based on a key that has two different parts. The
public part and the private part. The public part of the key is
distributed to those you want to communicate with. The private
part is for the recipient's use only.
When you send
personal information to American Medical Depot, you use American
Medical Depot's public key to encrypt your personal information.
That means, if at any point during the transmission your information
is intercepted, it is scrambled and very difficult to decrypt.
Once American Medical Depot receives your encrypted personal information,
we use the private part of our key to decode it.
What Kind
of Encryption Software Does American Medical Depot Use?
American Medical Depot currently uses the industry-standard SSL
(Secure Sockets Layer) encryption. We also continue to keep up
with the current technologies in order to provide the best security
for our customers.
What information
Does American Medical Depot Encrypt?
American Medical Depot encrypts all personal information you give
us when you place an order online.
How Safe
is Encryption Really?
Providing encrypted information online is as safe as doing it
over the phone.
What is
a Cookie?
A cookie is a tiny piece of text asking permission to be placed
on your computer's hard drive. If you agree, then your browser
adds the text in a small file.
If you have
set your browser to notify you before accepting a cookie, you
will notice that American Medical Depot requests a cookie to be
set on your computer. Its purpose is to let us know when you visit
our site. This cookie, by itself, only tells us that a previous
American Medical Depot visitor has returned. It doesn't tell us
your e-mail address or who you are. If you want to give us that
information later via registration, that's your choice.
Why are
Cookies Persistent?
If the web server does not detect a Unique ID for your session,
it will generate one and send it to the client in the form of
a cookie. So, if you accept the cookie, you only get it once.
If you do not accept the cookie, it will try to send you one with
every hit until you accept it. This means every page and item
on that page you request from American Medical Depot will come
with a cookie request unless you already have one.
Are All
Cookies the Same?
No. On the American Medical Depot site we have two kinds;
temporary and log cookies. Temporary cookies are necessary to
maintain the user session and tell our server which page to pull
up next. The traffic log cookie tells us what pages are being
used and which ones aren't. This helps us make improvements to
the site to better meet your needs and cut down on pages that
don't get used.
So What
Does A Cookie Do For Me, The Visitor?
There are several immediate advantages on American Medical
Depot that you can see through the use of cookies. For example,
the American Medical Depot support area retains your service tag
number between visits. When you return, you'll notice that the
service tag number for your computer is already typed in.
When you are
browsing in the store, you can add items to your shopping cart
and return several days later to pick up where you left off, with
the items still in the cart.
Also, special
access areas of the site will soon be easier to use with the cookie
technology. Overall, cookies help us give you a better Web site
to use, by letting us monitor what's working and what isn't through
site traffic analysis. In the future, a cookie may allow you to
tell us what information you prefer to read and what you don't.
Why Do
I Need to Know This?
Because we want you to know why we ask you to accept a cookie.
We want to be sure you understand that accepting a cookie in no
way gives us access to your computer or any personal information
about you. We know that a lot of people have concerns about cookies,
but in talking with many of our users, we feel that the benefit
we both gain from their proper use is worthwhile. We value the
relationships we have with our customers and future customers,
so we respect these concerns.