Photos: HP's Hurd speaks out

HP chief executive Mark Hurd offered what amounted to a simultaneous defense and criticism of then-HP chairman Patricia Dunn's controversial leak investigation. Hurd claimed that it was Dunn's "responsibility" to pursue leaks aggressively and acknowledged that he himself had approved fake e-mail sent to a CNET News.com reporter. But Hurd also said that some of the investigation's tactics violated business ethics and apologized to everyone who was unreasonably targeted.

Hewlett-Packard hired Mike Holston, a partner at the Morgan Lewis law firm, to investigate what happened in the leak probe. Holston read aloud a detailed chronology to the reporters who were present--although HP has said that the full details may never be known.

Security was tight before HP CEO Mark Hurd spoke to reporters at the company's Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters on Friday afternoon. Guards stopped cars entering the parking lot and bags were checked for video cameras at the entrance to the building.

Not only was private security out in force for HP chief executive Mark Hurd's press event, but the local police showed up as well. The car in this photograph is a cruiser from the Palo Alto Police Department.

Television crews with satellite uplinks lined the edge of Hewlett-Packard's parking lot in Palo Alto before a press event on Friday afternoon. At the event, HP's chief executive described how the company used outside investigators to peek into the lives of journalists, HP board members and even its own employees.

Before the press event began, journalists and a handful of analysts paced back and forth in the light-filled and cavernous lobby of Hewlett-Packard's headquarters. The green tables were filled with drinks and food.

Over 50 journalists and a few analysts convened in HP's auditorium at its landscaped campus in Palo Alto, Calif., to listen to a press briefing about the company's investigations. It wasn't a proper press conference: HP insisted that reporters asked no questions. Some tried anyway, and HP chief executive Mark Hurd ignored them.