Armed with our laptops and smartphones, our apps and Twitter accounts, consumers enjoy previously unimaginable access to marketplace information and sometimes even power. The Web crackles with peer reviews; with the right mobile device we can scan a bar code of something at the mall and compare the price with far-flung retail rivals. And we can vent and maybe achieve some satisfaction. Remember the online video of the slumbering Comcast repairman? Remember when the consultant and writer Jeff Jarvis blogged his unhappy laptop experiences into what became the “Dell Hell” public-relations nightmare? Add it all up, and it’s a significant shift, a “transparency triumph,” as Trendwatching.com put it not long ago.

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