A Wall Street Journal article (November 24, 2010) describes the SEC probe of “channel check” as potential criminal activity. The article describes such data for Apple – forecasts of the “build plans” are used to project upcoming production volumes iPads and iPods.  The question is how this information is obtained and if such data is legal.  Other examples in the press have described supplier data used to project OEM volumes.  How much of this “supply chain” information is reasonable to expect to be leaked and what data should be considered “insider information” ?