Etsy CEO: Congress still doesn’t get the Internet

Etsy chief executive Chad Dickerson says he spends a lot of time convincing official Washington just to pay attention. Lawmakers and regulators, says Dickerson, have trouble imaging a type of work that might take place at someone's kitchen table in between life's other responsibilities.

He starts his pitch for the micro-manufacturing movement. The amiable CEO flashes the cufflinks on his tea-rose-pink shirt. One features a tiny map of Berkeley, (CA) Dickerson's former home town, and the other Brooklyn, where Etsy is based. The niche mismatched cufflinks are the perfect online product, where with low overhead a small manufacturer can profitably reach a scattered audience. But that bid at persuasion doesn't always work. "In a really crude way, I think that policymakers still need to understand the Internet," says Dickerson. "It's surprising sometimes."