Naples (Fla.) Daily News, on the fine line between investment tips and insider trading:

Let's say you hear that investors from Abu Dhabi are about to invest in a computer company. So you buy stock in the company, hoping the price will rise when the Arab investors make their purchase.

If that hot tip came from an insider who told you about the Arab investment before the news was public, both of you could go to jail for "illegal insider trading." But if you figured out the Abu Dhabi investment because you saw a fleet of limos visiting the computer company's headquarters, well, then you don't go to jail. You might get rich.

On Oct. 16, Raj Rajaratnam, a billionaire hedge-fund manager, and five other people were accused of illegal insider trading. The feds say they made an illegal $20 million in profits between 2006 and 2009 by using secrets to trade in a variety of companies in the biggest insider-trading case involving a hedge fund. ...

Information is always valuable, and secret information is the most valuable kind. The Securities and Exchange Commission says illegal insider trading is when you violate a trust or confidence and buy or sell a stock using "material, nonpublic information."

There are thousands of Web sites and blogs, newsletters and tip sheets that traffic in information about companies and stocks, and that's a good thing for investors. More information is better than less, and more transparency is better than secrets held by a few.

Let's not allow the hunt for alleged illegal traders put a chill on good investors who dig for the truth and share it with the rest of us.

Chicago Sun-Times, on the options in Afghanistan:

The good news is that Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, is agreeing to a run-off election after massive voting fraud.

The bad news is that many reasonable observers seriously doubt whether the country can pull off the new elections by Nov. 7 -- without the results being undermined by the same vote stealing, intimidation and other outright fraud that plagued the first round of voting. ...

The United Nations has the task of firing and replacing more than 200 election officials who were implicated in the vote fraud or refused to follow proper procedures -- a tough task seemingly to accomplish in a few months, much less a few weeks.

And there's the question of how legitimate the election results can appear, given the extremely low voter turnout that's expected -- possibly even lower than the first election.

There's talk that Karzai and his chief opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, are in talks for some sort of power-sharing deal, so a runoff would be avoided. Seldom do such bargains work in practice, but it might be the least distasteful option if it helps the Afghan people start believing in their government. ...

Los Angeles Times, on electronic cigarettes:

Introduced in the United States two years ago, electronic cigarettes are no longer a novelty item but a popular option for many smokers -- especially those who want to quit. Inhaling on the cigarette-shaped device activates a built-in battery, which heats up a mixture of water, nicotine and propylene glycol to give the "smoker" a vapor hit of the addictive substance found in cigarettes -- but without the smoke. It even lights up at the other end, mimicking the tip of a cigarette.

E-cigarettes are the latest of a wave of nicotine-packing products -- including bottled water and lollipops -- to face the wrath of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. ...

The agency wants sales of the devices halted until, as with other drug products, animal studies and clinical trials determine whether they are indeed safe. We agree. A check of Internet chat sites shows that the devices are regularly used by smokers trying to quit tobacco. Should the courts rule against the FDA, Congress will have to step in. With the ever-expanding peddling of nicotine in the United States, the public needs federal oversight of attempts to advance an addictive drug.

(Nov. 2, 2009)