IT News: Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO)’s Big Move, Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) & More

Editor’s Note: Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM),  Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ)

Cisco announces plans to lay off 4,000 employees; stock skids (CNBC)
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) stock plunged Thursday, a day after it announced plans to lay off 4,000 employees, or 5 percent of its work force. The company said it will take a charge for the restructuring in the fiscal first quarter. Shares of the world’s biggest network equipment maker were down more than 8 percent in premarket trading Thursday. What’s the stock doing now?

EFF supports Chinese activists in Cisco human rights case (ZDNet)
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says that it supports the actions of Chinese human rights activists that are taking Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) to court, claiming that the company knowingly sold technology used to facilitate human rights abuses. In a blog post Friday, the digital rights group filed an amicus brief (.pdf) — a legal opinion submitted by someone outside of a legal case — in relation to Du v. Cisco. Submitted to a Maryland federal court, Chinese activists are suing Cisco for allegedly providing the Chinese government with products that facilitate human rights abuses — in full knowledge of the technology’s use.

IBM, Oracle and EMC under scanner in China: Report (The Times of India)
SHANGHAI: China’s Ministry of Public Security and a cabinet-level research centre are preparing to probe International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) , Oracle and EMC over security issues, a newspaper report said. The report follows revelations by former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden of widespread surveillance by the National Security Agency and his assertion that the agency hacked into critical network infrastructure at universities in China and in Hong Kong.

IBM says it will buy Trusteer, source says paying close to $1 billion (GMA NEws)
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), the world’s biggest technology services company, said on Thursday it has agreed to buy Trusteer, a company that helps businesses fight computer viruses and fraud. A person familiar with the matter said IBM was paying close to $1 billion for Trusteer, making it the company’s second-largest acquisition of a security company after its 2006 purchase of Internet Security Systems for about $1.3 billion.

Hewlett-Packard Fighting Lawsuit Over ‘Chubby Checker’ Penis-Measuring App (billboard)
Hewlett-Packard says that a lawsuit over a mobile phone app allowing men to measure the size of their penis doesn’t add up. At issue is the “Chubby Checker,” the punning app which in February provoked action in California federal court by Ernest Evans, the singer-songwriter famously known as Chubby Checker. Evans says that HP has tarnished his name, violated his trademarks and knowingly invaded upon his publicity rights. In a statement to the court, HP says that it can’t be held legally responsible for third parties that would make available such an item in its app store.