Users are continually driving things forward. Much of the mystery of companies and the market is already gone. Users will hunt down information, but the hunt is not enjoyable. And those users have much more pull on the Web. Users use products, companies sell products.
Users have power.
And, they are really the ones spreading information in email messages, newsgroup postings, chat rooms, and discussion lists. Attempts to stop the spread of information result in user anger. The answer for many companies is to offer up the information. A company can defuse the time bomb by not hiding information. That is, if the information is openly presented, users won't guess and speculate.