HP Pays $14.5M to Make Civil Charges Disappear

theodp writes "The California Attorney General's Office negotiated a $14.5 million payoff from HP as part of a settlement that calls for the state not to pursue civil charges related to the now infamous spy scandal against the company and its current or former officers or directors (felony criminal charges against five individuals still remain). HP also agreed to maintain the watchdog positions of chief ethics officer and chief privacy officer for five years."

Re:A more fashionable solution!

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Such are the consequences of giving human rights to corporations.

A nice comparison...

[rallycellie]

Here in holland, where bikes are stolen as a kind of national sport it would be like: Steal 1 bicycle. get caught, go straight to jail. Steal a hundred bicycles, get caught, return 5 of them, say you are sorry, and that it was too easy and get a 'responsible citizens award' because you cooperated with the law.

Re:Buying injustice...

[wannabgeek]

I really think this is an injustice for the people who had their identities and privacy compromised, and for HP shareholders in the long run.

Well, the shareholders do not seem to mind. In fact, the market is relieved that their company got away so lightly.

Re:Heh

[Dhalka226]

I'm not really sure what the big deal here is. I'm all for routing out corruption and all that jazz, but this is an issue of civil law. They settled the case. This happens dozens, maybe hundreds of times per day in civil cases; 90% of civil cases never reach a verdict.

The fact that the article submitter chose to spin it as a "payoff" doesn't magically make it a bribe. Call me when they pay $14.5 million and get the criminal charges dropped and then I'll hoot and holler about corruption and greed in America with you. Until then, this is a total non-issue for me. The settlement may be a little bit on the low end, but then again I'm not too terribly disappointed that they didn't waste taxpayer money to pursue both a civil and criminal trial over basically the same charges/complaints.

Re:A more fashionable solution!

[Luscious868]

This settlement gets HP to admit to wrongdoing, puts some measures in place (pathetic though they may be) to try and keep them from doing it again, and not only saves the state money, but gives them a warchest to go after the real villains in this case: the executives who felt that the shield of incorporation gave them the right to condone and engage in unethical behavior.

No, they engaged in illegal behavior. Not everything that is unethical is illegal. See our current political system and the campaign finance system that supports it. Tell me what is ethical about the fact that elected Senators and Congressman don't even bother to read most of the bills they vote on. They don't even write the bills anymore, their staffers do. You know, the same staffers who will eventually leave to take high paying jobs with lobbying firms after paying their dues writing bills that are friendly to the interest those lobbyist represent. Completely unethical, 100% legal.

In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see most of these five individuals get what amounts to a slap on the wrist after a large donation or two is made to the proper re-election campaign committees or PACs. Sure one of them will have the book thrown at them so it appears action is being taken. Probably the lowest person on the totem pole. Then, after the smoke clears from that conviction suddenly the state will find no compelling reason to drag these remaining cases out. The poor defendants will have been put through enough. A small fine and 6 months probation will suddenly be more than enough punishment. After all, their names will have already been drug through the mud. That punishment alone will have done more damage than anything they state could do. They will have learned their lessons. I can see it now. What a joke.

Revised definition

[BCW2]

When did impersonating a law enforcement officer get redefined as "pretexting". The former is a criminal offense and the latter is revisionist bullshit. There should be criminal charges for every person involved in this idiotic farce.

Re:Buying injustice...

[NDPTAL85]

Mark Hurd is the guy who turned HP around. After their many many under-performing choices for CEO pre Hurd they know how hard it is to get a competent guy in the top job. They're not going to be getting rid of Hurd anytime soon.

Re:Settlement is common in civil cases!

[timeOday]

This was a civil matter. and 99 times out of 100, civil matters are about one thing: money.

And I guess the responsible executives at HP will be personally responsible and pay from their own pockets, right? I mean, they make millions of dollars because they're practically gods walking the earth, so on the rare occasion they do fall short of perfection, I suppose they'd be the first to bear the consequence of their own personal choices.