Team Internet Earns Major Victory in Fight for Net Neutrality

Today the FCC voted 3-2 to protect an open Internet under the strongest authority possible (you can read more here). I appeared before the FCC this morning to represent the countless startups who will benefit from net neutrality. Below is the statement that I read. If you’re a startup or a small business, add your voice in the comments below.

Photo: Before today's hearing, Chairman Tom Wheeler (L) reads handwritten thank you notes from Etsy sellers for protecting the open Internet.

Thank you Chairman Wheeler, for the opportunity to speak today. As the CEO of Etsy, a Brooklyn-based technology company, I’m here to thank you and your colleagues for taking decisive action to protect the Internet as a platform for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Etsy is an online marketplace where you can buy handmade and vintage goods from artists, designers, and collectors around the world. We have democratized access to entrepreneurship for over 1.2 million sellers -- 88% of whom are women -- who collectively sold $1.35 billion worth of goods in 2013. Most are sole proprietors who work from home. They live in all 50 states and depend on Etsy income to pay their bills and support their families. 18% support themselves full-time on Etsy.

Etsy and our sellers rely on a free and open Internet. It allowed Etsy to grow from a tiny startup in a Brooklyn apartment to a global company with over 600 employees. It allows the micro-businesses who sell on Etsy to reach buyers around the world and compete with much bigger, more established brands. Back in 1993, it even allowed me--an English major with a data entry job at a local newspaper--to jump start my career in technology by teaching myself how to code.

Without strong rules to prevent discrimination online, the innovation economy would suffer. Take Etsy as an example. We charge just twenty cents to list an item, and take only 3.5% of every transaction. We could not afford to pay for priority access to consumers, yet we know that delays of milliseconds have a direct and long-term impact on revenue. Absent the rules you’re voting on today, we would be forced to either raise our fees or leave our sellers in the slow lane, hurting the micro-businesses who depend on our platform most of all.

The Etsy community knows what’s at stake. That’s why on September 10th, 30,000 of them joined millions of others urging Congress and the FCC to protect the open Internet. Many others made handcrafted objects calling for net neutrality. And several more sent thank you cards for me to bring here to the FCC today.

In this handwritten note, Nancy from California, wrote, “Dear Chairman Wheeler, My note is a heartfelt and very personal thank you to you for protecting the free Internet for all… I worked in the medical field [for] over thirty years and loved it. But a couple of years ago, a girl texting on the freeway took my career away from me. My injuries forced me to find income from something I could do from a chair… I turned [to] my passion for creativity and vintage items and joined Etsy. My dream is alive and viable because of free Internet neutrality and Etsy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your earnest support for me - and countless other little people trying to glean income from their artistry. Blessings to you - Nancy.”

Today, I applaud the FCC for establishing clear, bright line rules that ban discrimination online. Over the last year, over 4 million people weighed in on this proceeding. Today’s vote demonstrates that they’ve been heard. Thank you for voting to protect the Internet as an engine for economic opportunity, the likes of which we have never seen.