You're assuming that not only does the information exist, it exists in a nice usable form that the company could release as "Manual for Programming an 82524EF Controller".
In reality, the information is much more likely to be scattered throughout dozens of individual specification documents that can't be released - not out of malice or desire for control, but simply because nobody has spent the time to gather all that information into something usable by an outsider.
Re: Corporate IT
In reality, the information is much more likely to be scattered throughout dozens of individual specification documents that can't be released - not out of malice or desire for control, but simply because nobody has spent the time to gather all that information into something usable by an outsider.