For HP: Emails Are Forever

In the digital age, it's getting easier to investigate matters. As for Patricia Dunn , the former Chairman of Hewlett-Packard, she led an investigation that used some of these new-fangled techniques to snoop on the company's board. Now, it appears that some of the practices may even be illegal (that is, according to California's Attorney General).

Ironically, it looks like these e-investigation techniques are being used against Dunn. In fact, according to a Wall Street Journal piece, Dunn was fully-engaged in the investigation of the board – since the summer of 2005. And, yes, this comes from lots of internal HP emails (funny enough, it has been Dunn's contention that she has been hands-off with the investigation because of possible conflict-of-interest issues).

It even looks like the former CEO of HP, Carly Fiorina, was part of Dunn's investigation.

Other juicy tidbits: There was discussion to see if text messages of board members could be captured. Also, there was talk about planting informants at a couple news organizations, such as CNET.

True, Dunn had legitimate concerns about her board, which certainly had problems of leaking confidential information.

But, as more and more information about the investigation comes out, it appears that Dunn was too aggressive. In fact, some of HP's own experts had indicated to her that the investigative practices were pushing things too far.

Of course, this is now a moot point.

Basically, in the digital age, one thing is very clear: emails are forever. As the investigation at HP continues, expect more intriguing details to emerge.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.