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![handle is hein.crs/crsiwsaaaas0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Order Code RS20426
Updated April 1, 2002
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Electronic Commerce: An Introduction
Glenn J. McLoughlin
Specialist in Technology and Telecommunications
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
Electronic commercial transactions over the Internet, or e-commerce, have grown
so fast over the last five years that many experts continue to underestimate its growth
and development. Whether retail business-to-customer or business-to-business
transactions, e-commerce is now a significant part of commercial transactions. In turn,
policymakers both in the United States and abroad are likely to face increasingly complex
issues of security, privacy, taxation, infrastructure development and other issues in 2001
and beyond. This report will be updated periodically.
The Internet and E-Commerce
The convergence of computer and telecommunications technologies has
revolutionized how we get, store, retrieve, and share information. Many experts contend
that this convergence has created the Information Economy, driven by the Internet, and
fueled a surge in U.S. productivity and economic growth. Commercial transactions on the
Internet, whether retail business-to-customer or business-to-business, are commonly called
electronic commerce, or e-commerce.
Since the mid-1990s, commercial transactions on the Internet have grown
substantially.' By 1996, Internet traffic, including e-commerce, was doubling every 100
days. By mid-1997, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that just over 4 million
people were using e-commerce; by the end of 1997, that figure had grown to over 10
million users. The rate of e-commerce growth continues so rapidly that projections often
are outdated as fast as they are published. One 1998 industry estimate projected that U.S.
retail transactions would reach $7 billion by 2000 - a figure now widely accepted as
having been reached in the year the report came out.
1 For statistics and other data on e-commerce, see: CRS Report RL30435, Internet and E-
Commerce Statistics: What They Mean and Where to Find Them On the Web. Other sources
include: [http://www.idc.com], [http://www.abcnews.go.com], [http://www.forrester.com],
[http://earmarketer.com], and [http://www.cs.cmu.edu]. It is important to note that some
measurements of e-commerce, particularly that data reported in the media, have not been verified.
Congressional Research Service * The Library of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/crsiwsaaaas0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)