I didn't mean to imply there were only two possibilities. I merely wanted to ask what "not rigged" means to you? As the current article shows, there are real technical details necessary to figure out and the CAP theorem limits what can be done. It isn't a simple question to answer, and I personally lean towards "the SEC did a generally good job".

I don't know why you feel I was "uncivil" - I merely asked a question. However, please accept my apologies.

If you want to see assorted defenses of specific aspects of HFT, I have quite a few on my blog. I just posted a new one today. If you look way back, you'll also find a tutorial explaining the basic mechanics of HFT. I'm planning to publish an explanation of "quote stuffing" (aka screwups in your algorithm) shortly, as well as a takedown of Mark Cuban's idiotic article on the topic.

http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/tags/high%20frequency%20tr...