HP Denies Allegations of Direct Product Sales to Syria

The once-proud HP hit a new public relations low this week, even after the Autonomy fiasco. An SEC inquiry has begun to explore whether Hewlett Packard provided Syria with equipment. HP acknowledged the SEC's formal letter, and suggested an unscrupulous Italian intermediary firm supplied the outlaw Assad regime with the goods. While that possibility is a likely one, HP would prefer to dance around questions about how it tracks the ultimate destination of its equipment. It's not as if the Assad forces were buying close-outs of HP's ill-fated, though well made, tablet.

The story was covered by Reuters and appears in today's siliconvalley.com.