Journalists to Sue Hewlett-Packard

A number of the journalists upon whom Hewlett-Packard spied, trying to find who on the board was leaking information, are planning to sue the company. Well, there's a shocker, eh? Furthermore, CNet, at least, is considering its own options. The story says that the suit comes after "several months of negotiations with the company" on the parts of all the reporters who are known to have been the victims of surveillance. But the CNet journalists split off to take action separately, while some from BusinessWeek and the New York Times are still negotiating and the Wall Street Journal writers decided not to seek compensation. Looks as though the parties were far apart:

In an April meeting with H.P.’s outside law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius of Philadelphia, the seven journalists requested an amount equal to several million dollars each, paid to them directly with their promise that most of the money, though not all, would be donated to charity. Hewlett-Packard’s offer was closer to $10,000 per reporter, roughly enough to cover the reporters’ legal bills, according to several people involved in the talks.

So not only did HP spy on reporters - and on its own board members - but it's trying to get off cheaply? Well, not counting the $14.5 million it agreed to settle a lawsuit from the California attorney general.

How incredibly dense a move. Let's say that it spent the several million and got everyone off its back. Would that really have been that much more expensive than antagonizing journalists everywhere and keeping its name in the press in such a negative way? Once again we see American business deciding to be penny wise and pound foolish.