$14.5 million later, HP spy game ends

Hewlett-Packard, in hot water for allegedly spying on journalists to discover the source of boardroom information leaks, has agreed to pay $14.5 million to make a civil suit filed by the California attorney general go away. That’s chump change for those Silicon Valley laser-jet barons. Outgoing attorney general Bill Lockyer says in a statement, “Hewlett-Packard is not Enron. I commend the firm for cooperating instead of stonewalling, for taking instead of shirking responsibility.” Yikes, the “E-word” … pretty much the “F-word” of global business! Now, the two firms will be linked in online searches for years to come.