An "insider," by Wall Street terminology and by the legally enforced standards of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissionis anyone who, by reason of being an officer, director or major stockholder of a corporation, can get advance information that might affect the firm's stocks. Thus insiders are required to file regular reports of their stock purchases with the SEC; the commission closely scrutinizes such reports to make sure that the insiders have not profited by information unavailable to outsiders, meaning the general public.
This seems eminently reasonable. But last week the SEC made a move to stretch its "insider"...