I'm having a hard time thinking of non-public data that would be legal to trade on. The examples in the article and this thread all seem like public information. Anyone can observe a sales floor, or a parking lot, or a store entrance. Anyone can observe the IR radiation coming off oil tanks. Anyone can observe tweets.
Anyone with the time and means to do so, anyway. Anyone could do these things; but most don't. For the people who do, what is protected is their investment in gathering and analyzing the data. The law does not grant Person A access to the data set of Person B--true--but the question is whether Person B could do their own work to gather the same data set.
Whereas information that is only available, in any form, to Person A would be considered non-public, and not legal to trade on.
Anyone with the time and means to do so, anyway. Anyone could do these things; but most don't. For the people who do, what is protected is their investment in gathering and analyzing the data. The law does not grant Person A access to the data set of Person B--true--but the question is whether Person B could do their own work to gather the same data set.
Whereas information that is only available, in any form, to Person A would be considered non-public, and not legal to trade on.