Damn, this story has what journalists call “legs.” It just keeps getting worse, now it’s apparent that Patricia Dunn had her goons break the privacy of reporters. I’m sure glad I’m not on HP’s PR team.

Look at the chart of HP on Google Finance. HP, if you want out of the valley of bad PR you MUST cut loose Patricia Dunn (and probably the whole board, truth be told).

Oh, someone pointed out that I had a picture of a newspaper on my blog today. Caught Scoble reading paper? Nope. They leave copies in the lobby (notice that they are unopened).

That said, you can read tomorrow’s headlines, tonight.

San Jose Mercury News is reporting that “charges are likely” in this mess.

I don’t read papers. I read what the rest of the world will see tomorrow tonight on my Tablet PC. Thank you very much to all the journalists who are keeping the heat turned up on Hewlett Packard. It should remain until HP announces that Patricia Dunn is gone.

My boss wanted to pay to go to the Web 2.0 conference and he can’t get a ticket. Loser!

Heck, I didn’t get one either. I guess I’ll have to buy mine on eBay.

I’m sure the board of directors at HP is hoping this one just blows over. Here’s a hint. It won’t. Until you get rid of Pat. A message MUST be sent that the ends do NOT justify the means.

David Berlind put it well when he asked “how steep will the cost of HP’s dysfunctional family be?”

This is worse than dysfunction. A message MUST be sent to people in power of big companies that privacy is something that they MUST NOT TRODDEN UPON.

Industry analysts are saying that the HP board will suffer little. Um, really? Did you read the front page of the important newspapers this morning?

They are right, usually bloggers and press bite and then release, moving onto the next big story of the day (new Apple stuff coming, for instance).

But, will this time be any different? When will Pat go? That’ll be the day I see that HP has gotten its ethics back in shape. Until then, be prepared. This story is NOT going away.

Certainly California’s Attorney General isn’t letting go. Look at this quote from SFGate: “In this case, clearly a crime has been committed,” he said in an interview. “The question is by whom. How far does the liability extend?”