Oct. 09, 2022
October 9, 2022 Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. I hope these comments won't be deleted as was the case before. In light of recent events that have taken place throughout the markets, I believe transparency is one of the most important things we can do to improve our markets as well as create maintain the integrity of our stock markets. How can we have an efficient market that works for companies and investors when certain market participants can hide information that can have a huge impact on the market or on companies themselves. I can see the benefits of short selling and how it can lead to efficient markets. If there are \"bad\" or \"failing\" companies that do not have a successful business, it's logical that someone would want to make money off that. But \"shorting in the dark\" is an unnecessary, harmful and predatory act that can destroy successful companies that may just be going through a tough patch or have the need for new management. The need to protect short sellers to hide their positions from the public in this case DO NOT outweigh the need to protect investors, companies, the employees of said companies and also the towns that benefit from the company doing business at it's locations. Victims of predatory short selling need greater ability to defend themselves. One tool that would amount to greater ability for companies to do this is transparency. I would argue short sellers are not investors. Why would the SEC prioritize protecting short sellers over investors, companies and the need for efficient markets? The SEC states that \"The SEC's long-standing tripartite missionto protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation...\" Transparency throughout the market should be one of the SEC's top priority for the stated mission to be accomplished. The SEC invests a great deal into it's Whistleblower program as a way for the public to bring bad actors to the SEC's attention. The more information that is made public means the public will be more able to help the SEC find these bad actors. As a retail investor, I am a strong supporter of this rule and any rule the SEC would like to implement that would allow retail investors and publicly traded companies greater access to information. Thank you for your time.