I guess Prosper is taking some pages from the playbook of middle eastern governments, shutting down the means by which people can get to the "town square" to voice their concerns.
Seriously? Comparing a private company regulated by the SEC (and by individually every state in the country) to a totalitarian government. On this one, I think that Jon Stewart can explain it far better than I can. In summary he says, "When it comes to civility and honesty and discourse, I have no problem with coarseness. What I have a problem with is people using hyperbole to induce an irrational fear of a particular group with the goal of ultimately reducing their numbers.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-january-20-2011/word-warcraft
Perhaps you would be kind enough to point out where my comparison fails as it relates to methods employed by these two parties?
Also, for those playing along at home, Mr. Millar is, of course, a Prosper employee.
(Counting down to Prosper employees and their herd of thugs to come running here to post drive-by insults)
Since I am not answering your question in the capacity of a Prosper employee, I am not going to debate with the you the validity or invalidity of your claims. I was trying to make one point only. When you compare a private company to a totalitarian regime, you do a disservice to the people who live in those countries, and the hyperbole ultimately clouds your own argument.
My point is this: You are free to invest in Prosper. You are free to not invest. You are free to say bad things about Prosper. You are free to launch this forum. You are free to sue Prosper in a public court. Prosper is a private company. Many private companies operate with less transparency. Many operate with more transparency. That is the beauty of America. We enjoy such freedoms.
People in many middle eastern countries would kill for those rights. Do you know what would happen if someone in one of those totalitarian countries started a forum like this or attempted to recruit people via a forum like this. They would very likely be taken away and beheaded. I am fairly sure that Prosper can't do that. In fact, I am fairly sure that Prosper can do nothing to stop you from having an open forum where you publicly criticize Prosper.
You complain that Prosper closed down it's previous forum. I personally don't know why, as I wasn't employed by Prosper at the time. I do know this though. That was their right. We live in America. They have no obligation to have a forum. Just as it is your right to start up this forum. The fact that Prosper chooses not allow Facebook comments is a far stretch from a country who systematically uses force to stop it's citizens from criticizing the government. And as an aside, there are many financial institutions who follow the same protocol and don't allow comments on their Facebook fan page and many more that choose not to have a Facebook fan page at all.
So before you start comparing an private company in America with a totalitarian Middle eastern government, I challenge you to go live in one of those countries for just a few months. I have. Start a forum like this complaining about the government. I think at that point you would quickly understand what freedom of speech and information truly is.