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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."
And I thought corruption only occurred on HP CD burners.
"Normal" people go to jail.....
Ah, the wonderful Land Of The Fee.
When do they remodel the blindfold on the statue of justice so it's slipped and she can wink and look suggestively at her back pocket?
Qualifications:
ETHICS OFFICER
1. Own fancy suits
2. can swat people with rolled-up newspaper while shouting "BAD KITTY, BAD!"
3. will hunt down and execute people responsible for deep-sixing the good RPN calculators.
PRIVACY OFFICER
1. Own fancy suits
2. can swat people with rolled-up newspaper while shouting "NO LOOKING!"
3. will institute manditory privacy screens for erotic interweb browsing.
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.
The case did only involve a civil complaint, so it probably would have ultimately ended up with a financial settlement and some sort of compromised "corrective" measures like we see here, but 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. The evidence that senior executives at HP, potentially including Mark Hurd, either ignored or were ignorant of the ongoing, "probably illegal" actions is pretty well documented, and pretty overwhelming.
Patricia Dunn took pretty much all the heat for this, and that's unfortunate for her and HP. It seems to me like she should have had a better grip on what was happening at HP, but it doesn't seem to me like she should have been the only one with that responsibility. A full, objective, and independent investigation should have been the first think on everybody's list. Instead, this case is now settled, Congress has moved on, and Dunn will be focussed on proving her innocence.
The unfortunate thing for Mark Hurd is that his level of responsibility and accountability wasn't determined in this process. The second HP hits a performance blip, this scandal will be the first thing on every shareholder's mind when they're thinking of who to blame. When that day comes, I wouldn't want to be in Mark Hurd's shoes.
--
justen
justen.blogspot.com
Chief Ethics Officer? In a company like HP? That's going to be a boring job.
On the plus side, I guess you can have "CEO" on your business cards.
and that is the point.
If something like this happens in your country, how on earth can you go and claim you're living in a free, democratic country?
I mean, democracy obviously has nothing to do in a country where deep pockets are obviously running the scenes. And it's news like this that shows that it's indeed the deep pockets that are enjoying the absolute power. Power to the people? Sounds nice in speeches. But the 'democratic' reality in these kind of countries is that 'the people' can press a lousy button once every four years (if they're even that lucky), and that that's ALL the voice they're ever going to get. Government in these countries is run by political-economical lobby by big, powerfull multinationals and business-conglomerates, who try very hard to hide this fact from the public eye by spreading the 'illusion' that buying a consumer-product is like 'voting' for the company that produces it. So much for democracy.
And freedom? How on earth can anyone actually feel free in a country where citizens are put behind bars for minor fraud, while businesses like HP (which are actually run by REAL people!!) can pay-off a judge while calling it 'being sanctioned'?
I really wonder how a country like that can tell the rest of the world what to do, and still live with itself. It seems the entire country has MPS or something...
It's not just HP that do this kind of thing, it's what Governments (your servants) are up to all over the world every day.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
but the Scientologists had (have?) a Watchdog Committee and Ethics Officers and we can all trust them now can't we...
What the hell is it with the animated ads? "waiting for cdn.eyewonder.com" or "getting data from cdn.eyewonder.com" is stopping my scroll of the main page more than 50% of the time
What I don't understand is - whose coffers does the money go to? How is this money then used? Why does the company have to pay the state or whoever $14.5 million dollars for something that was, though illegal, done internally in the company. It did not affect any external parties, the state etc. And what does the article mean by The AG's office 'negotiated' a settlement? ... but what do I know?
Sounds like open bribes to me
Help a man when he is in trouble and he will remember you when he is in trouble again.
Thats ridiculous - the shareholders must pay for the directors' irresponsilibity?
And since when was it possible to settle criminal cases! ridiculous
nuke california
SURELY NOT!!!!!
Before all the knee jerk reactions start (too late for that) stating this is unfair or a travesty of justice, it is not. This is simply an out of court settlement for a civil case. Anyone could have done the same thing.
For example: My neighbor wants to sue me in civil court for some perceived wrong doing. I go to my neighbor and say "Listen, instead of dragging this thing to court why don't I pay you X sum of money and agree to not do it again." My neighbor could accept the settlement and be done with it.
If what I had done was also criminal then the appropriate authorities could still pursue criminal charges against me, but my neighbor would be finished with me.
That is all that happened here, nothing more.
The summary is very misleading in the way that it describes HP as paying money to make the case disappear. This wasn't a criminal case where they were buying off a judge to rule favorably. This was a civil matter. and 99 times out of 100, civil matters are about one thing: money. They can either pay money in the settlement, pay money as a result of a judgment from a trial, be dismissed through a motion, or be found not guilty from a trial. Settlement is COMMON, because it allows both sides to save costs from not having to pay for a costly trial. And trials are MUCH more costly than most of what happens pre-trial.
This isn't some back-alley dealing, it's one legitimate and often used method of resolving civil disputes quickly and cost-effectively. And on top of that, it means that HP can't appeal the decision because they agreed to it. If the case had gone to trial and verdict and resulted in a decision HP didn't like, they could have appealed and kept the case going for years without resolution, while at the same time increasing both their costs and the costs of the state in trying the case.
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.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
The appointment of a Chief Ethics Officer means you'll need to complete online training every year to ensure that you understand the ethical dimensions of your job.
Here's an example verification, which I found by hacking one of the servers:
Suppose a supplier offers to bribe you with a pair of World Series tickets to increase your purchases from his company. Should you:
a) Say yes! Baseball is America's game, and give-and-take is good business.
b) Refuse the offer and report the incident to top management
c) Ask about the seats. Might as well watch the game on HDTV if it's the bleachers, but infield grandstand starts to get interesting
d) Giants in the Worlds Series? AHAHAHAHAHA
For some reason slashdot requires the facts to be stated and restated in multiple posts without actually changing anyones opinion on anything (mostly because they read only what confirms their own worldview anyway).
Apparently you dont know about NCR after AT&T with respect to the leadership under Nyberg. Carly seems to be off the radar as well. Nor do you seem to remember how far they went to keep her.
However much you trust the effectiveness is irrelevant. You keep an eye on them if you're that worried.
With HP's history on Carly Fiorina, they warrant such scrutiny. Also, Hurd's time at NCR under Lars Nyberg validates it even more if these actions were allowed to happen.
my question for the cynics: If this is bad 'justice', what should've happened?
A penalty that cannot be passed on to downstream parties outside of HP. Ideally it would be something that is passed on directly to those responsible, allowing the less ethically challenged parts to continue operating.
With multiclass shares and stock dilution as possible weapons, I doubt that avenue could be used if you're viewed as a hostile person with a ton of cash.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
stupidity. Jeez folks, how bout we find a moderator that at least understands what CIVIL case means.
I'm all for routing out corruption and all that jazz, but this is an issue of civil law.
They're in high dudgeon and don't want to be confused with facts.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
The biggest question behind these damages is being missed by most people here - Q: How the hell did HP's damages get spun into an anti-piracy effort? And more importantly, who was doing the spinning?
..."
From the NYTimes article: vast bulk of H.P.'s statuatory damages are to "... finance the investigation of consumer privacy violations and of intellectual-property theft, *** including the copying of movies and music***
So, why is this money not being spent to, say, combat consumer identity theft? Or to dissuade other companies from invading the privacy rights of individuals? Or to further compensate the actual victims in this particular case?
It's not because this person got spied on, it is because the people in charge at HP were willing to spy on her. Here in the US, the republicans that have been in power for the last 4 years have believed that regulating companies was bad and that people should do it with their wallets. That is what I am doing. HP showed me their lack of morality, I am going to show them and other corporations that I don't tolerate that. I know that I am just one person, but I figure that there are probably a bunch of others doing the same thing, and that this is helping them.
The result(though it may or may not be significant), will be that it is in the best interest of companies to obey ethics.
Disagree with me? Tell me why, but follow these rules.
As an ex-HP employee, I wish that they could get rid of their many layers of largely bad management for a paltry sum of 14.5 million. It would be cheap at twice the price.
Somebody needs to mod the AC parent up!
"HP also agreed to maintain the watchdog positions of chief ethics officer and chief privacy officer for five years."
...
Especially because their previous one (and also their general counsel) were involved in the pre-texting scandal
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
...any more than they were before; they were never criminally charged, they were civilly charged, which meant, if they lost, they would pay a fine. By settling, they paid a fine and were subject to specific conduct controls.
HP surrendered, they didn't get away.
I guess everyone has their price. Perhaps someone can calculate what percentage of HP's net worth is $14.5 million so others could use that same percentage to settle their civil suits with CA ...
I'm guessing it would be *very* affordable. :-)
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
14.5 million???? That's *IT*???
But then, this is the most corrupt state in the union, what more do you want? *shakes head*
Sorry man... the Internet pooped on me.
Clearly not those who are responsible!
THe fine gets paid by the shareholders and customers and perhaps a few low level employees who get fired. The fine is not paid by those who are guilty.
--
As part of the settlement [...] HP will "finance a new law enforcement fund to fight violations of privacy and *intellectual-property* rights"
--
So... HP is to give money to RIAA/MPAA?
HP burns 11.5 million dollars on shredder oil per year. this settlement means nothing to HP, which remains the poster boy for no ethics in business for spying like Putin.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
The entity HP is a company name employing thousands selling billions. The guilty party is a fired executive and a few fired co-horts. Should the Company name suffer forever because one of the many people to hold a certain position was a crackpot? The company name HP can not be corrupt because it is just a name. Oh yeah, and the illuminati is a farce.