Wall Street gets 'guidance' on mobile devices

Get these gadgets under control.

That's the central message of a long-anticipated report released this morning by Wall Street's two self-policing organizations, NYSE Regulation and NASD, relative to the ubiquitous use of Blackberrys, cell phones and the like on trading floors.

The 12-page report, pointedly labeled "Joint Guidance," has been two years in the making and is viewed by some as a prelude to possible regulation of mobile devices on Wall Street.

The report seeks public input regarding its contents between now and July 13. Its introduction reads:

Technological innovations in the area of electronic communications have altered how people deliver, receive and store communications. These innovations have brought, and continue to bring, new challenges to members in the establishment of supervisory systems and procedures for electronic communications that are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable federal securities laws and self-regulatory organization rules.

With these challenges in mind, the NYSE and NASD are issuing this guidance for members to consider when developing such systems and procedures.

Members of the committee tasked with formulating the recommendations have discussed their work before the report's release and emphasized the voluntary nature of what they are proposing.

However, outside experts see this step as only the first, according to this story in the International Herald Tribune:

"I expect that the codification of these best practices has little practical effect other than in bringing regulatory actions against their members," said Ron Geffner, a lawyer at Sadis & Goldberg who previously worked at the SEC.

James Cox, a professor of corporate and securities law at Duke University, said the new proposal was a small but important step. "It won't be the last whack at the problem," Cox said. "But it's a modest beginning."

Something tells me this report will be popular reading among brokers -- not to mention Wall Street IT types -- come lunchtime today.