To Buy or Not to Buy HP? A Question of Ethics

Few corporations deserve to be equated to Richard Nixon's White House or Enron, but Hewlett-Packard seems richly entitled to that comparison. And unlike those two arch-villains, HP awaits your judgment the next time you walk into any computer or electronics store. What do you do?

In case you missed it, from March 2005 to May 2006 the onetime Silicon Valley icon engaged in an orgy of intrusive, probably illegal surveillance as it tried to find the source of leaks about its board meetings. It sicced investigators on its board members, its board members' families, its own spokespeople, its former chief executive, reporters and their spouses, and even one reporter's father.

HP's hired goons pursued those suspects in a variety of creepy ways. They employed pretexting -- a tool of identity thieves more generally known as lying -- to gather people's telephone records. They considered planting spies in the newsrooms of the Wall Street Journal and Cnet and even attempted to infect a journalist's computer with spyware that would record to whom she forwarded an attachment.

A public apology finally came on Friday, but the only person to be punished was Chairman Patricia Dunn: She had already agreed to quit, but HP kicked her out immediately instead of letting her stick around until January. Meanwhile, chief executive Mark Hurd -- who should have been aware of what was being done in his name but apparently was not -- was given Dunn's old job while keeping his current gig. Nice work if you can get it, huh?

So, Nixonian or Enronesque? You pick the adjective. And you pick the response: Do you give HP your business or not? Does its vile conduct outweigh the finer points of its products?

That question can come up in any consumer transaction -- whether it's deciding between buying a steak at Safeway, Whole Foods or the farmer's market or choosing between trekking out to Costco or Wal-Mart for the next bulk purchase of toilet paper -- but it has been coming up more often in the tech industry.

Just picking out a Web search engine can involve a complicated moral calculus. Google's Chinese subsidiary censors search results to suit the dictates of the Chinese government -- but Yahoo has turned over the names of Chinese dissidents who used its Web-mail service.

Lest you throw up your hands and say this is just business, not a moral issue, remember that most companies want to be judged on this level. That's why they go to the trouble of putting testimonials to their "corporate citizenship" and "core values" up on their Web sites and sponsoring NPR and local symphony orchestras. (For a cheap laugh, visit http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship .) It's only fair to take up a company on such a clearly expressed offer and evaluate its character.

Not all corporate misdeeds require a consumer response. It's possible to like a product even when its manufacturer can act like a jerk at times. Apple has engaged in thuggish -- but, fortunately, unsuccessful -- lawsuits against Web sites that published leaked information about upcoming products, but that hasn't stopped the iPod from dominating the music-player market. And then there's Microsoft: Being nailed for repeated antitrust violations didn't seem to make any meaningful dent in its sales.

But some conduct begs for retribution at the cash register. The brain trust at HP let its megalomania outweigh any other considerations, like common decency or simply the desire not to look like felons when the whole sorry operation inevitably came to light. If this doesn't affect HP's bottom line, how much lower does a company have to sink before its customers rebel?

In one respect, HP faces more trouble than most companies that run afoul of the law. Like most manufacturers of Windows computers, it doesn't make anything that you can't easily get from another source. It builds commodity products with only a few minor tweaks. Replacing an HP with a Dell or a Sony entails far less distress than boycotting an airline, a vacation destination or a particular make of car.

Unfortunately, punishing HP or the next corporate criminal doesn't mean you can expect to move your business to a truly upstanding firm, as opposed to one that's merely less evil. The "my company right or wrong" mind-set rules too many corporations these days, and no place more decidedly than in their executive suites -- where leaders first demand to be compensated as if they alone deserve credit for the company's success, then cry about the unfairness of laws like Sarbanes-Oxley that hold them directly responsible for the company's misdeeds.

Go ahead, make HP your punching bag the next time you shop for a printer or a computer. Just don't overestimate the deterrent effect that might have on the rest of corporate America.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrobp@washpost.com.