Michael Gracie

Read between the lines.

From Reuters: “Hewlett-Packard Co saw no change in spending from financial-services customers in its fiscal fourth quarter, Chief Executive Mark Hurd said on Monday.”

Mark Hurd deserves a lot of credit for jumping on a nasty situation with guns ablaze. Things are definitely getting better. But Mark also said:

“We do not have a huge exposure to the financial services industry.”

How about getting an opinion on financial services capital spending from a company that DOES have material exposure to the sector?

The Reuters headline smells funny. Even Barron’s piled on without a hint of skepticism.

That’s a joke, by the way. Phone records have long been accessible by surrepitous means. But if you were a recent member of Hewlett Packard’s board of directors, your phone records were more than fair game.

Techdirt has done a good job summarizing this story, so I won’t bother. No, actually I wouldn’t bother anyway. It’s just too damn disgusting.

***UPDATE***

The phone records of reporters involved in “the leaks” weren’t safe either.

***UPDATE 2***

Looks the probe snagged the phone records of someone’s retired father too. You dog was in the room when the vet was talking with their adulterous lover - your phone records are now up for grabs.