Terms and Conditions

1. About our Terms

1.1. We are The Financial Times Limited (""we", "us", or "our"), a limited company registered in England and Wales and our registered address is Bracken House, 1 Friday Street, London, England, EC4M 9BT. Our company number is 00227590, our UK VAT registration number is GB226162332 and our data protection registration number is Z7087146. If you need any of our other tax ID numbers please contact Customer Care.

1.2. These Terms and Conditions apply whenever you:

use FT.com, FT.com mobile and online digital apps and services (together “FT.com”) and access the content and services available on them including the Financial Times newspaper (the “Newspaper”) (together, the “FT Content”); and
purchase access to FT.com, the Newspaper and/or the FT Content (together, the "FT Services") on a subscription basis.

1.3. You should read these Terms and Conditions carefully before using FT.com and/or FT Content or subscribing to the FT Services. By accessing, using or subscribing to any of the above, you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions (as applicable) and the documents referred to in them.

1.4. If you access FT.com under an organisation’s subscription agreement, then your access is primarily governed by the subscription agreement between us and that organisation. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and Conditions and the organisation's subscription agreement (as applicable), the terms of the organisation's subscription agreement shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency only. If you have any questions about the FT Services or if you have any difficulties using FT.com, please chat with us online, call us on your regional telephone number, or email us at help@ft.com.

2. Your Subscription to the FT Services

Subscribing to the FT

2.1. We offer a range of subscriptions:

to FT.com (“Digital Subscriptions”);
the Newspaper (“Print Subscriptions”),
to both FT.com and the Newspaper (“Bundled Subscriptions”); and
we also offer subscriptions on a trial basis ("Trial Subscriptions")

The above are referred together as "the Subscriptions" and individually as a "Subscription". Please note that separate and/or additional terms and conditions may apply to any Trial Subscriptions that we may offer. Any such additional terms shall be clearly indicated.

2.2. You may not take more than one Trial Subscription in any twelve-month period. We may cancel any Trial Subscription that you may have purchased, without refund, if you have had access to any other Trial Subscription in the previous twelve months.

2.3. You may purchase a Subscription by submitting an order and providing the sign up details on FT.com, by phone, email, using our Live Chat on FT.com or by letter. We will only accept your order when we have successfully verified your email address, processed your payment details and emailed you to confirm this.

2.4. We will try to process your Subscription order promptly but cannot guarantee activation by any specified time. We may reject any Subscription order in our discretion. You confirm that your sign up and payment details are complete and accurate, and that you are entitled to purchase a Subscription using those sign up and payment details. It is your responsibility to update and maintain changes to your sign up details on our Manage Your Account. Each Subscription is for a single user only. We may cancel or suspend your Subscription account if you share your access rights with any third parties, or attempt to allow third parties to avoid our control of access to FT.com.

Fees and Payment

2.5. You agree to pay the Subscription fees at the rates and in the currency displayed during the Subscription process. Prices may vary from time to time and by country, and Subscriptions may be available on a one-off, monthly, annual or other basis. Discount offers are as stated at the time you subscribe and cannot be changed during the term of your subscription. Unless otherwise indicated, prices stated are inclusive of any applicable value added tax (VAT) or other sales taxes. The breakdown of any VAT will be indicated on the relevant invoice.

2.6. If we do not receive payment authorisation or any authorisation is subsequently cancelled, we may immediately terminate or suspend your Subscription.

2.7. If you take a Trial Subscription, we will inform you of the full Subscription price payable at the start of the trial period. Your Subscription will renew automatically at the end of that trial period at the full Subscription price unless you cancel your Subscription before the end of the trial period. To cancel your Subscription during the trial period please go to Manage Your Account and follow the simple cancellation instructions.

2.8. We will give you at least 14 days’ notice of any increase in the price of your Subscription, which will take effect at your next renewal date.

2.9. If we incorrectly state a price online or otherwise, we are not obliged to provide you with a Subscription at that price, even if we have mistakenly accepted your offer to buy a Subscription. If we notify you of a pricing error, you may cancel the Subscription and we will refund you any money paid, or you may pay the correct price. If you do neither, we may cancel your Subscription and refund any money you have paid. We will always act in good faith in determining whether a genuine pricing error has occurred.

2.10. If you are entitled to a refund we will credit that refund to the card or other payment method you used to submit payment, unless it has expired in which case we will contact you to arrange.

2.11. In addition to the Subscription fees you are responsible for paying for any:

broadband, mobile, data, messaging or other internet connection and telecommunications charges that you may incur by accessing FT Content;
charges that may be levied by your bank or credit card issuer (for example foreign transaction fees on transactions which take place abroad or in a foreign currency).

2.12. We will do all that we reasonably can to ensure that all of the information you give us when paying is secure by using an encrypted secure payment mechanism. However, in the absence of negligence on our part, any failure by us to comply with this contract or our Privacy Policy or breach by us of our duties under applicable laws, we will not be legally responsible to you for any loss that you may suffer if a third party gains unauthorised access to any information that you give us.

Home Delivery

2.13. We will deliver your Newspaper from Monday through to Saturday to the address you provided during the sign-up process if it is within our delivery areas. Delivery of the Newspaper may be delayed until the next business day where national or other public holidays are being observed in your country. We do not guarantee delivery to non-secure locations or beyond ground floor levels. Any special delivery requests may be printed on your Newspaper and seen by third parties, and we cannot guarantee that these requests will be fulfilled.

2.14. We aim to commence delivery of your Newspaper within 2 business days (UK), 7-10 business days (Eurozone) or 10-12 business days (United States) of your Subscription commencing. Delivery times for other regions will be confirmed separately.

2.15. If you do not receive your Newspaper on the expected delivery date, please contact us within 7 days and we may arrange an extension or credit for that delivery (excluding Trial Subscriptions of 4 weeks or fewer).

2.16. If you wish to change your address for home delivery then please contact us at least 10 days' before the date on which you wish your change of address to take effect. If we are not able to provide you with a home delivery service to your new address then:

If you have a Print Subscription we will cancel your Subscription and issue a pro rata refund for the unexpired period of your Subscription; and
If you have a Bundled Subscription we will cancel your Subscription, issue a pro rata refund for the unexpired period of your Subscription and, at your option, transfer you onto a new Digital Subscription.

Paper or Digital Vouchers

2.17. You may only redeem vouchers for Newspapers (subject to availability) at participating UK retailers on the date shown on the voucher, except FT Weekend which is also valid on the Sunday of the same weekend. Vouchers cannot be exchanged for cash or any other products. You must not copy, resell or transfer vouchers to anyone else.

2.18. Paper vouchers will be posted and digital vouchers will be emailed using the information you provided during the sign-up process.

2.19. If your Subscription has been cancelled, vouchers will no longer be valid and you must promptly post any unused paper voucher packs to the address printed on the back of the pack. We may provide a refund for any vouchers that relate to the remainder of a Subscription period you have already paid for, and we reserve the right to charge you for any voucher packs that have not been returned which relate to a period for which you have not yet paid. Paper and digital voucher subscriptions cannot be suspended by you at any time.

Suspension of deliveries

2.20. You may temporarily suspend Newspaper delivery if you have a Print or Bundled Subscription, for example if you are going on holiday. Please refer to this FAQ on our Help Centre for further details, including the notice period you need to provide for any suspension.

2.21. A monetary credit will be applied against your next payment (or refunded if your Subscription is not renewed). However:

You will only be credited up to a maximum of 24 editions for 5 or 6 day Subscriptions, or 4 editions for a Weekend-only Subscriptions, in each full subscription year.
You cannot carry over any allowance not taken in one subscription year into the next year.
You will not be entitled to suspend your Subscription if you use vouchers, or if you have subscribed through an intermediary rather than directly from the FT.

Your Cancellation Rights

2.22. Digital Subscriptions:

By placing your order for a Digital Subscription subject to these Terms and Conditions, you agree that we may start your Subscription immediately upon our acceptance of your order and that you waive your statutory right to cancel our contract within 14 days of our confirmation email.
This means that you lose your right to cancel this contract once we have provided confirmation via email of your Digital Subscription (see section 2.3 above) and that any notice of cancellation that you provide (whether before or after the 14-day period) will only take effect at the end of your current subscription period. You will not be entitled to a refund except in the event that there is a fault in our provision of our FT Services.

2.23. Print Subscription or Bundled Subscription:

You have the right to cancel our contract for a Print Subscription or Bundled Subscription within 14 days of our confirmation email (see section 2.3 above) without giving any reason.
If you exercise your right to cancel within that period, we will reimburse all payments received from you, less a pro rated amount for each Newspaper you received before cancelling.
After the above period has expired, you may cancel your Print Subscription or Bundled Subscription by notifying us at any time of your intention to do so. However, the cancellation will only take effect at the end of your then current Subscription period, and you will not be entitled to a refund except in the event that there is a fault in our provision of our FT Services.
You may terminate your Subscription immediately in writing to FT if FT.com is unavailable or inaccessible to you for either (a) any 72 hour period during your Subscription; or (b) more than five 24-hour periods over a 30 day period; in either case as a direct result of a fault or failure of FT, in which case we will refund you any amount that you have paid to us in advance that relates to any period which was still to run on your Subscription.

2.24. To exercise the above rights to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel the contract by using our online chat feature, calling us on your regional telephone number, or emailling us at help@ft.com with the following: "I/We hereby give notice that I/we cancel my/our subscription". Please then include:

the subscriber's full name (person on the billing information if different from the user);
the Account email address or Account Number (Customer Reference Number);
the billing address and delivery address (Including zip code/postcode); and
your contact telephone number.

Our Cancellation Rights

2.25. We may suspend or terminate your Subscription if we are prevented from providing services to you, or accepting payment from you, by applicable law or circumstances beyond our control, or if we cease publishing the Newspaper or FT.com or FT Services. If we terminate for any of these reasons, we will provide you with a pro rata refund to the extent permitted by applicable law.

2.26. We may also suspend or terminate your Subscription, without refund, if you breach these Terms and Conditions, or in the event of any verbal or written abuse of any kind (including abusive, offensive or aggressive language) directed towards our Customer Care team, other FT personnel, or any member of the public, with or without notice and without further obligation to you.

2.27. If you are not a Subscriber, then we may suspend or terminate your access to the FT Content at any time, with or without notice and without further obligation to you.

Effects of cancellation

2.28. If you are entitled to a refund, we will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel your Subscription.

2.29. We will make the reimbursement using your registered payment details detailed within Manage Your Account. Additional charges may apply if we are required to reimburse to any other credit card or bank.

2.30. If you have received copies of the Newspaper as part of your Subscription, you will not be expected to return these copies, but we will retain payment for such in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

2.31. If you access the FT Services by exchanging the Newspaper for voucher packs which are issued by us, we reserve the right to charge you the subscription fee for the renewal period if we have sent you voucher packs that have not been returned before your subscription start date. We will provide you with a refund of the subscription fee on receipt of the complete returned voucher pack.

Renewals

2.32. Unless you notify us at least 14 days before the end of your current subscription period that you wish to cancel, your subscription will continue to renew for further equivalent periods and will be subject to these Terms and Conditions. We will charge the subscription using the same card or other payment method that you previously used. In the case of annual subscriptions, we will send you a reminder notice at least 14 days before the renewal date stating the rate that will apply for the renewal period.

3. Using FT.com

Ownership of FT.com and FT Content

3.1. FT.com and FT Content and all intellectual property rights in each are owned by us, our licensors or both (as applicable). Intellectual property rights means rights such as: copyright, trade marks, domain names, design rights, database rights, patents and all other intellectual property rights of any kind whether or not they are registered or unregistered (anywhere in the world). We reserve all of our rights in any intellectual property in connection with these Terms and Conditions. This means, for example, that we remain owners of them and free to use them as we see fit.

3.2. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions grants you any legal rights in FT.com or the FT Content other than as necessary to enable you to access FT.com and use the FT Services. You agree not to adjust, to try to circumvent or delete any notices contained on FT.com (including any intellectual property notices) and in particular in any digital rights or other security technology embedded or contained within FT.com.

3.3. "FT" and "Financial Times" are registered trade marks and you may not use them without written permission from FT. You are permitted to use the FT Content only as set out in our Copyright Policy.

Accessing and using FT Content

3.4. You agree to comply with our Copyright Policy when using FT Content. You are responsible for all use of FT Content whether accessed without a Subscription as a registered user, under your Subscription, or under your organisation’s Subscription.

3.5. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we expressly prohibit any use of our content or data (including any associated metadata) in any manner for any machine learning and/or artificial intelligence purposes, including without limitation for the purposes of training or development of artificial intelligence technologies or tools or machine learning language models, or otherwise for the purposes of using or in connection with the use of such technologies, tools or models to generate any data or content and/or to synthesise or combine with any other data or content. We reserve all rights to license any use of our content and data for any such purposes.

3.6. The amount and types of FT Content that you can view depend on what type of subscription you have. If you already have a subscription, details of your access rights can be found at Your Account. We may vary or cancel the access rights of non-paying users at any time.

3.7. Your access to FT Content will vary depending on whether you have a FT Standard or FT Premium Digital Subscription. An FT Standard Subscription provides an overview of the most important business, political and economic stories from around the world whereas an FT Premium Subscription gives readers full access to FT journalism, including exclusive additional analysis and insight.

3.8. We reserve the right to amend the scope of your Digital Subscription from time to time. We will give you at least 30 days’ notice of any significant reduction in the scope of your Digital Subscription, and these will only take effect from the date of your next payment following that 30-day period. This does not apply where a type of content or service intended for FT Premium subscriptions is made available to FT Standard subscribers on an introductory, temporary or trial basis.

3.9. On registration, you will choose a user name and password (“ID”). It is your responsibility to keep your ID confidential. The email address must not correspond to a generic or shared email account, and you must be entitled to use that e-mail address. All information received by us from your use of FT Content will be used by FT in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

3.10. If you believe there has been any breach of security such as the disclosure, theft or unauthorised use of your ID or any payment information, you must notify FT immediately by e-mailing us at help@ft.com. We recommend that you do not use FT.com’s “Remember me” log in feature on any device that may be used by anyone other than you in order to prevent unauthorised access to FT.com and your Subscription details.

Comments and other User Generated Content

3.11. FT.com includes comments sections, blogs and other features that allow interaction between users and between users and FT journalists (“Forums”). If you post a comment or any other information to these Forums (“User Generated Content” or “UGC”) then you must comply with our commenting guidelines plus any specific rules posted on the Forum. You are responsible for all the content of any of your UGC that you or we publish. You are financially responsible to us for any claim against us by any third party that your UGC is not in accordance with these Terms and Conditions or that otherwise relates to your UGC.

3.12. You own the copyright in your UGC, and you grant FT a right (but not an obligation) unlimited in time to publish, re-use, archive, modify, delete or commercially exploit that UGC in whole or in part as we see fit, whether on FT.com or otherwise, without any requirement to pay you for this and with or without attribution to you. You also waive any moral rights that you may have in regard to the UGC.

3.13. You must not post any UGC that we believe to be:

illegal, offensive, libellous or indecent;
harassment or bullying, including making personal attacks on other commenters;
misinformation;
hate speech, including anything which makes attacks on the grounds of race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age;
irrelevant to the Forum or the Forum’s topic;
spam, including any any form of advertising or promotion for goods and services or any form of unsolicited communication;
impersonation, including impersonation of FT employees or of Forum guests or hosts, or misrepresenting any connection with any person or entity;
private or confidential information or trade secrets of any person or entity;
infringing copyright or other intellectual property rights;
in breach of financial services regulations, such as recommendations to buy or not buy a particular share or investment or anything which otherwise has the purpose of affecting the price or value of any share or other investment;
harmful, such as software viruses, files or code designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of FT.com or any computer software or equipment; or
against our commenting guidelines.

3.14. You must not:

collect or store other users’ personal data; or
restrict or inhibit any other user from using the Forums.

3.15. It is not possible for FT to fully monitor all UGC published on FT.com but where we have actually received notice of any UGC that is potentially illegal or potentially in breach of these Terms and Conditions, then we will review that UGC, decide whether to remove it from FT.com and act accordingly. If you are aware of any such UGC, please notify us immediately with specific details, using the “report” function on FT.com, or by contacting us at help@ft.com.

3.16. We can link your UGC, including anything posted under a pseudonym, to your FT.com account. Our moderation and community team may contact you from time to time regarding your UGC.

3.17. If you breach our Terms and Conditions regarding UGC, then we may:

remove any UGC you have posted that breaches our Terms and Conditions;
ban you (temporarily or permanently) from participating in UGC on FT.com; and
at our discretion, remove any other UGC you have posted.

3.18. FT is not obliged to provide commenting facilities or other Forums on FT.com or for any specific content within FT.com. FT may, at its sole discretion, choose to close (or not to enable) posting of UGC on any article or other content, or to restrict posting of UGC to specified categories of user. Posting of comments on FT.com is restricted to users with a Subscription (excluding Trial Subscriptions).

Accuracy of information and availability of FT.com

3.19. While we try to make sure that FT.com and all FT Content is accurate, up-to-date and free from bugs, we cannot promise that it will be. Furthermore, we cannot promise that FT.com will be fit or suitable for any purpose. Any reliance that you may place on the information on FT.com is at your own risk.

3.20. FT Content is provided for your general information purposes only and to inform you about us and our products and news, features, services and other websites that may be of interest. It does not constitute technical, financial or legal advice or any other type of advice and should not be relied on for any purposes.

3.21. If you use either Managed Funds or Personal Finance on FT.com you acknowledge that these areas of FT.com are designed for use by UK users only and you should not use them if you are ordinarily resident outside of the UK.

3.22. We may suspend or terminate operation of FT.com or any part thereof at any time as we see fit.

3.23. While we try to make sure that FT.com is available for your use, we do not promise that FT.com is available at all times nor do we promise the uninterrupted use by you of FT.com.

Third party sites and products

3.24. FT.com may contain hyperlinks or references to third party websites and third party products. Any such hyperlinks or references are provided for your convenience only. We have no control over third party websites and accept no legal responsibility for any products, content, material or information contained in them. The display of any hyperlink and reference to any third party website or third party product (including any advert or sponsor) does not mean that we endorse that third party's website, products or services. Your use of a third party site may be governed by the terms and conditions of that third party site.

3.25. Any agreements, transactions or other arrangements made between you and any third party named on (or linked to/from) FT.com are at your own responsibility and entered into at your own risk.

4. Your Privacy and Personal Information

4.1. Your privacy and personal information are important to us. Any personal information that you provide to us will be dealt with in line with our Privacy Policy, which explains what personal information we collect from you, how and why we collect, store, use and share such information, your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a query or complaint about the use of your personal information.

5. Limitation on our Liability

5.1. FT makes no warranty, express or implied, regarding your Subscription, FT.com, FT Content or FT Services, which are provided 'as is'. We expressly disclaim all warranties to the extent permitted by law, including but not limited to warranties of fitness for a particular purpose.

5.2. Except for any legal responsibility that we cannot limit or exclude in law (such as for death or personal injury), in the event that you suffer any losses arising in connection with your Subscription, or your use of FT.com, FT Content or FT Services:
(a) our total liability to you shall not exceed the total sums paid by you for your current Subscription; and
(b) we shall not be liable or legally responsible in any way (whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise) for:
(i) any loss that was not foreseeable to you or the FT when the contract was formed;
(ii) any loss that was not caused by any breach on FT’s part;
(iii) any business loss (including business interruption, or loss of revenues, sales or business opportunity);
(iv) any loss of profits, anticipated savings, goodwill, reputation, or data;
(v) any loss of use or corruption of software or technical equipment;
(vi) any loss to non-consumers; and
(vii) any indirect or consequential loss
in each case even if we have been advised that such damages may arise.

5.3. The limitations of liability in this section 5 apply for the benefit of FT, its affiliates, including those listed in section 6 and all of their respective officers, directors, employees, agents or any company who we transfer our rights and obligations to in accordance with these terms and conditions.

6. Corporate Information

6.1. Other than as set out in section 6.2 below, you will be contracting with The Financial Times Limited for any Subscriptions. The Financial Times Limited is the publisher of the Newspaper and FT.com, and its corporate details are set out at section 1.1.

6.2. If you buy a Print or Bundled Subscription and are resident in one of the countries specified below, you will be contracting with the applicable entity listed below:

Americas: F.T. Publications, Inc, whose principal place of business is at 330 Hudson Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10013, USA.
Japan or South Korea: The Financial Times (Japan) Limited, whose principal place of business is at 10F Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha Tokyo Honsha Building, 1-3-7 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8066, Japan.
Singapore: The Financial Times (Singapore) Pte Limited, whose principal place of business is at 60 Anson Road, #06-02 Mapletree Anson, Singapore 079914.
Asia (other than Japan, South Korea or Singapore) or Oceania: The Financial Times (H.K.) Limited, whose principal place of business is at 6/F Nan Fung Tower, 88 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong.

6.3. The Managed Funds and Personal Finance areas of FT.com are operated separately by FT Personal Finance Limited whose corporate details are as follows: registered office address is Bracken House, 1 Friday Street, London, EC4M 9BT; company number is 3855520; VAT number GB226162332; and Data Protection Registration Number is Z7670392.

6.4 Our legal representative in the European Union under the Digital Services Act (EU Regulation 2022/2065) is The Financial Times (Overseas) Ltd, c/o TMF Group, Ground Floor, Two Dockland Central, Guild Street, North Dock, Dublin 1, D01 K2C5, Ireland, email company.secretary@ft.com, telephone +44 (0)20 7873 3000.

7. Changes to these Terms and Conditions

7.1. These Terms and Conditions were published on 13 June 2024 and replace with immediate effect the Terms and Conditions previously published on 14 March 2024.

7.2. We may update these Terms and Conditions for legal or regulatory reasons, or to reflect changes in our services or business practices. We will provide notice of any significant changes below. You should regularly check this section to see if any changes have been made. If you are a paying subscriber, any changes to our terms and conditions will become effective from the date of your next payment following the change unless we notify you otherwise. If you are not a paying subscriber, any changes will become effective as soon as we post them on FT.com.

8. Law and Jurisdiction

8.1. If you are a user whose principal address or principal use of FT.com occurs in any jurisdiction other than the United States then these Terms and Conditions will be subject to English law. In this case, to the extent possible in the applicable jurisdiction, both you and we agree that the courts of England will (subject to the final paragraph in this section 8) have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute which may arise out of, under, or in connection with these Terms and Conditions.

8.2. If you are a user whose principal address or principal use of FT.com occurs in the United States then these terms and conditions will be subject to the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. In this case, to the extent possible in the applicable jurisdiction, both you and we agree that the courts of the State of New York will (subject to the final paragraph in this section 8) have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute which may arise out of, under, or in connection with these Terms and Conditions.

9. General

9.1. We shall have no liability to you for any breach of these Terms and Conditions caused by any event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control including, but not limited to, strikes, lock-outs or other industrial disputes; epidemic or pandemic; breakdown of systems or network access; or flood, fire, explosion or accident.

9.2. You may not license or transfer any of your rights under these Terms and Conditions. We may transfer any of our rights or obligations under these Terms and Conditions to any company within the Financial Times group of companies, but if we do so we will ensure that any company to whom we transfer our rights or obligations will continue to honour your rights under them.

9.3. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of that provision will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms and Conditions, which will remain in full force and effect.

9.4. Failure by either party to exercise any right or remedy under these Terms and Conditions does not constitute a waiver of that right or remedy. Headings in these Terms and Conditions are for convenience only and will have no legal meaning or effect.

9.5. These Terms and Conditions (together with the documents referred to within these Terms and Conditions including in sections 1.4 and 2.1) constitute the entire agreement between you and the FT relating to your use of the FT Services. They supersede all previous communications, representations and arrangements, either written or oral.

9.6. FT.com is best viewed with one of our supported browsers. Our current list of supported browsers and the degree to which they are supported can be found here. Any payment information you send to us over the Internet is encrypted using 128 bit Secure Socket Layer technology. SSL is currently the preferred method to securely transfer credit card data over the Internet.