Actually, the quiet period is somewhat of a mystery. Ask attorneys what it means and you get many answers. Then again, when the quiet period was crafted, the Net did not exist. Of course, with the Net, there has been a surge in publicity surrounding IPOs. And publicity translates into sizeable first-day gains for IPOs.
Some companies even place banner ad buys on IPO sites.
So, finally, the SEC stepped in. And, they decided to strike at a high-profile IPO, Webvan. The company has Goldman Sachs as the underwriter. The founder is Louis Borders, the founder of Borders Group. The company made some high-profile moves before its IPO, as well.