Frequently Asked Questions on Privacy and Security

This page provides answers to privacy and security questions involving the manifold.net Online Store.  For detailed information on site-wide privacy policies please see the manifold.net Privacy Statement.

Why do I need to provide an email address to order?  There are three main reasons we require an email address. First, because many Manifold products require sending a serial number or technical support token by email.  These serial numbers or tech support tokens are required to install and use the product.  Another important reason is that some manifold.net products are "download only" products for which the download instructions are sent by email.  Finally, in order to establish and maintain business communications relevant to fulfilling orders placed with manifold.net we require an email address.  

Do you use registration information to send spam?  No. Customers who have purchased products will receive routine notifications from manifold.net but will not  be targeted with advertising.  Email addresses and other contact information are used only for these purposes: to fulfill orders, to notify customers of business and technical changes such as in the operation of the Store, to provide notification of upgrades such as service packs, to provide notification of technical support issues for purchased products, to clear credit card authorizations and other financial matters directly related to order processing.  On very rare occasion, once every year or so, licensees will receive notification of major new Manifold editions that are available for a limited time at a special price to licensees of the previous release.

Do you provide registration information to any third party? No, except for third parties such as banks directly involved in processing an order.  manifold.net does not give any customer or user information to third parties.  See the main Privacy Statement for details.

Why does my browser not show an SSL link to the Online Store?  Manifold.net does not use SSL encryption on the Online Store.  This provides much faster connections for customers and avoids the security risk of third parties possessing certificates as well as the technical unreliability of running independent certificate servers.  As a practical matter, your transaction is safe because your connection to the Online Store is broken up into many small packets that are mixed with trillions of other packets on the web.  Although it is theoretically possible for someone inside an ISP with a packet sniffer to reassemble those packets, never in the history of millions of frauds on Internet has even a single credit card number been stolen by that means.  Certificate companies like to scare consumers who are unfamiliar with the technical structure of Internet as a means of selling their services, but as a practical matter seeing an SSL connection icon does nothing for your security.  It's much more important to keep customer databases encrypted and secured against Internet access (which Manifold does).

Why don't you use a third party "built in" certificate servers like many other secure sites do?  Using the built-in "trust" capabilities of either Internet Explorer or Netscape means signing up to use the certificate-issuing services of a private company that's been set up as a "trust" authority.  We think that's bad for security since we have no control whatsoever over how those companies are run, who owns them and what their policies are.  We don't like the idea of a third party being able to give out (either by accident or otherwise) a Manifold certificate to some unauthorized person without our knowledge. 

What should I do if I don't like ordering from an Online Store without SSL?  You can always buy Manifold by sending a check or credit card billing information by hard copy mail.  When ordering by mail, allow five days for processing any hard copy order and make sure to include an email address to which your serial number (required to install Manifold System) may be sent.

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