IDG News Service — The reign of Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) former CEO Mark Hurd was bookended by scandal -- only where the first one, in which the HP board was caught spying on journalists and others, allowed Hurd to consolidate power and nab the chairman's job, the second has sent him packing. Meanwhile, Oracle (ORCL) has sued Google (GOOG), claiming that the Android mobile OS infringes on patents it acquired from Sun Microsystems (JAVA).

1. Actress in HP scandal sorry Hurd lost his job: The actress who brought sexual harassment charges against former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd said she was surprised that the allegations cost him his job. Jodie Fisher, an actress and reality television contestant, released a statement on Sunday in which she came out as the person who brought the claims against Hurd. Fisher worked for HP as a contractor and attended executive summits and major client meetings. Late last Friday HP announced that Hurd had resigned from the company, saying that he did not violate HP's sexual harassment policy but did violate its standards of business conduct. Hurd filed inaccurate expense reports to conceal his personal, nonsexual relationship with Fisher and paid her for work she did not perform, according to statements from HP.

2. Google, Verizon make net neutrality proposal: Last week's rumors of network neutrality talks between Google and Verizon (VZ) turned out to be true. But contrary to media reports, neither company wants to create a business arrangement. Instead, Google and Verizon on Monday released a proposal that would allow the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to enforce some network neutrality rules. The proposal would bar ISPs (Internet service providers) from blocking or slowing Internet traffic and allow the FCC to fine offenders up to US$2 million. Network neutrality fans knocked the proposal, saying the measure does nothing to keep the Web open and is ineffective since it does not cover wireless broadband.

3. Oracle sues Google over Java use in Android: Google's Android mobile-phone OS infringes on Oracle's Java software patents, according to a lawsuit that Oracle filed against the search company. Oracle's lawsuit claims that Google knowingly infringed its Java technology, which Oracle acquired when it bought Sun. An analyst said that Google developed Android without using Sun technology and that the success of Android phones served as a catalyst for the lawsuit.

4. Microsoft's 30-day forecast: Stormy exploits expected: IT administrators may want to rethink summer holiday plans after Microsoft (MSFT) issued its monthly security update on Tuesday. Of the 32 flaws that Microsoft rated on how likely they are to be exploited, 18 of them were labeled as very likely to be exploited. Popular Microsoft products like Office 2007, Internet Explorer, Silverlight and Windows all received patches.

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