Cooler heads prevailed in the HP spying scandal: All charges against former Chairman Patricia Dunn were dismissed, and the charges against the other defendants were knocked down to a single misdemeanor apiece (and in September, even those charges will disappear).
This is as it should be. The HP scandal was a major embarrassment for the company, one that showed myopia and poor judgement on the part of Dunn and others. But there’s a big difference between a bad business decision and a crime, and Dunn, at least, should never have been charged with the latter (let alone multiple felonies).
Even as she breathes a sigh of relief, of course, Dunn will presumably be asking the same question that many executives savaged by an emotional rush to judgment have asked: "Now, where do I go to get my reputation back?"
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