The part telling us to fuck off had nothing to do with the part about "I don't have any more information." It had to do with the bit that I quoted - which was "we answer to ourselves."
I get that a company doesn't want to reveal their assets, personnel, etc. for lots of reasons. But this is a company that many of us want to get to know better, because they're controlling something that has been a part of our lives for decades. The response by PeterSmith wasn't just telling us that the information is private. It was saying, "we don't answer to you or anyone else." Literally. And that's kind of a dickish way of saying things. It's bad for customer relations at the least.