外文翻译--电子商务简介.docVIP

毕业论文（设计） 外文翻译 外文原文 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.1 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 The rate of e-commerce growth continues so rapidly that projections often are outdated as fast as they are published.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. Still, government and industry sources report huge annual jumps in e-commerce transactions. In May 2001 the Bureau of