Phil Goldstein, the hedge fund manager whose legal action derailed the first attempts to regulate his industry, is suing the SEC over its inexplicable and broadly interpreted ban on advertising by hedge funds.

Mr Goldstein told the Financial Times: “We want to be able to have a website like any other business. The only websites required to pre-qualify people are hedge funds and pornography . . . gun shops are allowed to advertise, the Massachusetts state lottery is allowed to have a website. We want to be treated like any other business.”

Goldstein appears to have taken action after being persecuted for talking to someone about his own hedge fund.

William Galvin, the Massachusetts securities regulator, last year lodged an administrative complaint against Mr Goldstein for disclosing information to an unqualified investor, when he e-mailed performance details of his fund in response to a query.

How interesting to see the government’s concern about the wealthy losing their own money — about protecting investors from their own choices. Meanwhile, government not only allows but pays to advertise state lotteries, because it’s okay for poor people to lose their own money.