I’m delighted to see that Bill Lockyer, California’s attorney general has filed felony criminal charges against former HP Chair Patricia Dunn and four others for their spying on fellow board members and on journalists.

The back story to this is that HP were concerned about leaks to the press from HP’s board meetings. An investigation was begun which involved spying on members of the board and various journalists (illegally accessing their phone records amongst other things).

The story broke recently causing havoc on the board (Dunn resigned, as did the general counsel, a second director and two other senior officers).

It will be interesting to see how this affects the company’s stock price.

I used to work for an employer who wouldn’t hesitate to spy on employees – throw away the key I say!