One wonders, of course, if the outcome of this case would have been different if it were a private individual committing the 'crimes' of which HP stood accused.

I for one find it slightly disturbing that a large, influential corporation that nevertheless gets caught with both hands firmly in the cookie drawer, receives in effect a let-off by the SEC, and be required to do nothing more than promise not to do it again.

It's difficult to believe that the punishment would be as lenient if the defendant were of lesser means. Locked up with the key thrown away would seem more likely.

As if! , for Wall Streets entire history from incorporation is one of denial of natural justice , because it's only money!

Say , did anyone see what action the normally lethargic SEC took over the ENRON debacle , of the years of filing false and misleading documents or what happened to the mystery billions siphoned of from the company pension fund and shareholder equity funds by both the CEO and the CFO , prior to the end run ? A shame though was the shareholders were not allowed through class action law to sue to the death their crap auditors!

But since Wall Street is infested with numerous Sharks and Barracuda , that daily bite off the hand that feeds them , what one could say is "A sucker is born every minute , and mindless sheep are all shorn of their fleeces at every opportunity in that environment"

As Nelson would say "Ha! Ha!"

As a disgruntled owner of several HP iPAQ Pocket PC's, I'm of the opinion that HP has lost big-time. Sure, they don't have to pay a fine. But they already started paying the price when they had board meetings in which they were supposed to discuss iPAQs (one would hope that they would do something to get them to actually work). Instead, all they talked about was who was leaking to the press.

When a company as big as HP gets its eyes off the prize, the result is products that don't get fixed, then loss of market share, and then ... well, to put it this way: I can't go into any major chain store now and buy a new iPAQ. They aren't being sold.

So HP took the hit, starting right when the malfeasance started.

Way to go, HP!! Another product line bites the dust...

Is this moral leadership of HP/Compaq? Does it flow down to sales team? Do what ever it takes to get a sale?

So you can break the law and get away with it if you have enough clout and cash!!!

If this was DELL the media would have crucified them, however HP is the media's poster child. What a double standard!!!

You have to be joking if you really think HP are in the least bit concerned about ethics.

I went to a dealer product launch in Birmingham UK where they demonstarted how each of the HP printers was so much better than the competition.

They got rather Irate when I pointed out they were using a different type of paper for the HP devices.

They dont care about the user if they can spy on the Board they can spy on the customer then some middle manager will take the fall for it.