Common misconception -- illegal insider trading is something most ordinary employees will never even be capable of. The definition is something along the lines

Common misconception -- illegal insider trading is something most ordinary employees will never even be capable of. The definition is something along the lines of "trading based on material non-public information", which is not "I think this company is going to hell in a handbasket" or even usually "I think this new product is a POS an won't sell worth a damn", but things like earnings results, major contract negotiations, criminal investigations, upcoming lawsuits, mergers and acquisitions, etc. It _is_ possible that a company might hold its employees to a different standard, but I don't think it would be reasonable to try and bar a grunt-level RIM employee from shorting the stock of a company everyone on the planet already knows is screwed.