Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched a new federal proceeding in an effort to seek public opinion on the best way to preserve Open Internet access in the United States. The fight for the preservation of the Open Internet, or network neutrality, has gained nationwide attention as Americans voice their opinion on the future of the Internet. In just a little over two months, the FCC received over 1.1 million responses to its initial request for public comments and the agency expects even more before the end of its second commenting period ending on September 10th.

The Open Internet has been one of the most revolutionary innovations of our time. Not only has the Internet empowered economic development, both big and small, but it has empowered people in every corner of the globe. eBay Inc. believes the network neutrality principle is worthy of the strongest protections. In a blog post released today, Richard Nash, eBay Inc.’s Head of Government Relations for the Americas, expressed eBay Inc.’s concerns with broadband service providers developing business models that create slow lanes and fast lanes on the Internet. “ In the absence of clear rules prohibiting discrimination and other forms of paid fast lane, we are worried about the consequences for consumers, startups, and number of people innovation,” said Nash. “At eBay Inc., we continue to remind the FCC how important it is to make sure there are no barriers to entry to the digital world. If the companies providing Internet access made it more difficult to get to services like eBay and PayPal, or the numerous other commerce platforms – just like Etsy – that have arisen, it would have a negative impact on the hundreds of thousands of small businesses that rely on them as a means to reach existing and new customers across the globe.”

eBay Inc., along with many of our allies, have filed comments to the FCC on the Open Internet proceedings. If you would like to add your voice in support of preserving the Open Internet, please visit the FCC’s website. Read our filed comments and Richard Nash’s post on eBay Inc.’s blog.