Business Administration ( SBA ) estimated that 85 percent of all small businesses would 

transact business via Web sites by the end of 2002, a figure that attests to countless transactions 

for Web site development, hosting and maintenance services.

62

The demand for Internet access and Internet Service Provider ( ISP ) services also has 

surged since the advent of the first commercial Web browser in 1993.  As of 2000, there were no 

fewer than 7,100 ISPs in the United States.

63

  The SBA projects that by 2003, this number will 

swell to more than 10,000 ISPs.

64

  The SBA also estimates that during this same time frame, 

business to business e commerce running over the networks of these ISPs will account for $3 

trillion in sales, a very significant figure for a sector of the economy that hardly existed a decade 

ago.

65

Unlike credit repair services, fraud loss recovery schemes and other inherently bogus 

enterprises singled out for special restrictions under the TSR, the FTC does not, and could not 

plausibly, contend that Web services and Internet access services are inherently fraudulent.  

These services have revolutionized the economy and generate powerful efficiencies and cost 

savings for consumers and businesses alike.

66

  Web services have proved especially valuable for 

small businesses.  According to the SBA,  [s]mall businesses that use the Internet have grown 46 

percent faster than those that have not. 

67

62

See id. 

63

See

id.

 at 5. 

64

See id. 

65

See id. 

at 14. 

66

See

generally

, 

Benefits of Electronic Commerce Applications of the National Information Infrastructure

, 

at

http://nii.nist.gov/nii/applic/eleccom/elcben.html (last visited Mar. 22, 2002). 

67

See

 Small Business Expansions in Electronic Commerce, 

supra

 note 55, at 8. 

22