The promise made by insider trading laws is that any Joe Schmoe can trade on the same footing as sophisticated professional investors, and that promise is a farce.
Well that promise certainly is a farce. Any insider action that the law can prevent (which let's face it is only a fraction of the possible insider actions) is going to "reduce" (not really) the insiders' edge over the sophisticated professionals more than it reduces the sophisticated professionals' edge over Mr. Schmoe. Of course, an edge is just information that hasn't yet reached all market participants.
The promise made by insider trading laws is that any Joe Schmoe can trade on the same footing as sophisticated professional investors, and that promise is a farce.