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Aemilia Banninger pointed me at a recent International Stock Exchange (ISE) press release - 08.19.07 - Rule 144 will be in effect tonight.:

CEO's and their alts that resolve to the same ip address will have their transactions displayed for the last 10 days.

The comments after that, in the link provided above, are interesting to read.

Personally, I think it is a solid step. The policy doesn't state that the [w:IP address] (a network identifier on the internet) will be published. What that policy does say is that if someone is doing trades from the same IP address from separate accounts, those trades will be published. That is as close to transparency as one could get without an interface for detecting alternate avatars. There is an issue with people who use the same subnetwork, such as an office network, having the same IP address as seen by the server - but then, if one is in the same office it is quite possible that insider trading could happen anyway¹.

Some remarks indicate that there is some belief that there is a violation of the Second Life Terms of Service - but they probably really mean the Second Life Community Standards, particularly Section 4:

Disclosure
Residents are entitled to a reasonable level of privacy with regard to their Second Lives. Sharing personal information about a fellow Resident --including gender, religion, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, and real-world location beyond what is provided by the Resident in the First Life page of their Resident profile is a violation of that Resident's privacy. Remotely monitoring conversations, posting conversation logs, or sharing conversation logs without consent are all prohibited in Second Life and on the Second Life Forums.

I don't see that as possible based on my own discussion with Lindens related to Disclosure on the web. If they apply this now, they are being inconsistent - which is really no surprise, but then there is another aspect of it. You see, the International Stock Exchange Website, while connected to Second Life, is a 3rd party site and as such probably doesn't fall under Second Life rules. Everyone who is a CEO at the ISE is there voluntarily; if anyone has a right to gripe it would be the average trader who was moved to another exchange without consent (and even then, it is all related to law - and I am no lawyer).

From what I see, the measure by the ISE to track this sort of information is an important part of providing transparency and avoiding insider trading. There are flaws which may color people poorly, but I honestly don't see a way around it. Someone has to provide some transparency into who is actually trading what, especially when it comes to people who have volunteered for investments.

It isn't perfect, but the visibility issues are very hard to disagree with. There really isn't a better way to do it, yet - and if a stock exchange wants to be taken seriously, these sorts of issues need to be addressed... maybe sometimes in ways that do not make everyone happy.

¹ I'm not saying that it does happen. I'm saying that it is possible that it could happen.