The much-hyped modern insider-trading prosecutions and their results are reminiscent of nothing so much as Prohibition-era government attacks on bootleggers. There is about as much chance of stopping trading on undisclosed financial information as there ever was of stopping the consumption of booze. There is simply too much money sloshing around the world's stock exchanges waiting for an "edge." Information is more mercurial than mercury and will seep into some crevice in the system no matter how many channels are closed.

Preet...