HP boss 'did not back spy probe'
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Ousted Hewlett Packard chief Patricia Dunn denies wrongdoing in an investigation into boardroom leaks.
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Search giant's CEO didn't address Googe's role, but says the Net boosts government transparency.
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard chief executive officer Mark Hurd blamedÂ the scandalÂ that has besieged his company on "a rogue investigation" that got out of hand, in an advance copy of his Congressional testimony released by a House Subcommittee on Wednesday. "How did such an abuse of privacy occur in a company renowned for its privacy? The end came to justify the means," Hurd wrote. "The investigation team became so focused on finding the source of the leaks that they lost sight of the privacy of reporters and others. They lost sight of the values HP has always represented." Former HP Chairman Patricia Dunn,Â forced to resignÂ Sept. 21 because of the scandal, defended in her testimony her decision toÂ investigate the leaksÂ of confidential board discussions to the news media. In her testimony, Dunn wrote that she knew investigators were obtaining the phone records of people it was investigating. Lawyers for HP and for an investigation firm carrying out the probe assured her the tactics were legal, she wrote. "I was fully convinced that HP would never engage in anything illegal," she wrote. "Given that attorneys were unambiguously overseeing the investigation ... reinforced my understanding that the investigations were being handled appropriately." Both are among severalÂ witnesses expected at a hearingÂ before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday in Washington. The committee is looking into the practice of "pretexting," or using false pretenses to gain access to confidential records. Investigators hired by HP to find the source of leaks engaged in pretexting to get hold of the phone records of directors, HP employees and reporters who cover the Palo Alto, California, technology company. Hurd, echoing comments he made in a news conference last Friday at HP's headquarters, said he was determined to get to the bottom of this episode and to try to restore HP's image. "I pledge that HP will take whatever steps are necessary to make sure nothing like this ever happens again," he wrote, "and that this company will regain not just its reputation ... but its pride." Although much of the criticism of the scandal surrounds the tactics used by the investigators, Dunn wrote in her testimony that equal consideration should be given to the leaks from within the company that damaged HP. HP's board was notorious for its leaks to news media and such disclosures made it difficult for the board to deal with important issues candidly, she wrote. Dunn explained that board deliberations on the selection of a replacement for former CEO Carly Fiorina in 2005 were leaked. She cited a BusinessWeek magazine story "disclosing opinions about various candidates and revealing details about ... the search process." "If you were a top CEO candidate, would you want to work for a company whose board could not be trusted to keep such information confidential? HP is very lucky to have been able to recruit Mark Hurd under such circumstances," Dunn wrote. "I wish fervently that none of this had ever happened," Dunn continued. "But boards have an unquestionable obligation to take steps to prevent [leaks]. That certain steps taken during the investigation went well beyond what was appropriate does not undermine the importance of the board's mission in this matter." Hurd also outlined several steps the company is taking internally to clarify its privacy policy for employees and to emphasize it in employee training programs.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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By Paul Elias  SAN FRANCISCO  --  Hewlett-Packard Co.'s board adjourned an emergency phone conference Sunday without announcing whether it would oust Chairwoman Patricia Dunn for ordering an investigation that may have used illegal means to spy on colleagues and journalists.
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(InfoWorld) - California Attorney General Bill Lockyer says criminal charges are "likely" in the scandal surrounding alleged spying involving the board of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), reports say. Meanwhile, HP board Chairman Patricia Dunn says she will not resign over the scandal and that she was "appalled" that contractors hired to investigate news leaks used potentially illegal methods, news reports say. The Wall Street Journal reported the HP board will hold a special meeting by phone this weekend to discuss the situation. HP is on the defensive after the disclosures this week thatÂ phone records of HP board membersÂ andÂ journalistsÂ were hacked to see who on the board discussed confidential strategy sessions with reporters earlier this year. The company disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that investigators, in order to identify the leaker, had used "pretexting," a method in which false pretenses are used to gain online access to others' phone records. The investigation determined that director George Keyworth was the source for a Cnet.com story in January about HP's strategy. Keyworth was asked to resign from the board in May but refused. Board member Thomas Perkins, a renowned Silicon Valley venture capitalist, did resign in May in protest over concerns with the HP board's handling of investigations into leaks of confidential information. Dunn, in an interview in the Journal Friday, said that while she ordered the investigation of board news leaks, she did not know the investigators hired to conduct the probe used pretexting. "I was appalled. And I'm going to apologize," to those journalists, she told the Journal. Because she was also subject to investigation, she said she could not have known what methods the investigators used. But while she does not plan to resign, Dunn will take into consideration what the board thinks she should do. "I serve entirely at the pleasure of the board,'' Dunn told the Journal. "If they determine it no longer is in the interest of shareholders [for me to remain on the board] I will do so.'' Charges could be filed under a California law prohibiting gaining unauthorized access to computer data or under another law prohibiting identity theft through unauthorized use of personal information, published reports say. The investigation is ongoing but prosecution is likely because a crime has occurred, Lockyer told the San Jose Mercury News. A bill to specifically outlaw pretexting is on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk awaiting his signature. The governor has until the end of September to sign or veto the bill, spokesman Darrel Ng told IDG News Service. Schwarzenegger hasn't taken a position on the pretexting bill, but only because it is one of hundreds of bills passed during the recently concluded session of the California Legislature, Ng said.
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(InfoWorld) - In an advance copy of his Congressional testimony released by a House Subcommittee on Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Hurd blamed the scandal that has besieged his company on "a rogue investigation" that got out of hand. "How did such an abuse of privacy occur in a company renowned for its privacy? The end came to justify the means," Hurd wrote. "The investigation team became so focused on finding the source of the leaks that they lost sight of the privacy of reporters and others. They lost sight of the values HP has always represented." Former HP Chairman Patricia Dunn , forced to resign Sept. 21 because ofÂ the scandal,Â defended in her testimony her decision to investigate the leaks of confidential board discussions to the news media. Both are among several witnesses expected at a hearing before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday in Washington. The committee is looking into the practice of "pretexting," or using false pretenses to gain access to confidential records. Investigators hired by HP to find the source of leaks engaged in pretexting to get hold of the phone records of directors, HP employees and reporters who cover the Palo Alto, California, technology company. Although much of the criticism of the scandal surrounds the tactics used by the investigators, Dunn wrote in her testimony that equal consideration should be given to the leaks from within the company that damaged HP. HP's board was notorious for its leaks to news media and that such disclosures made it difficult for the board to deal with important issues candidly, she wrote. "I wish fervently that none of this had ever happened," Dunn wrote in her testimony. "But boards have an unquestionable obligation to take steps to prevent [leaks]. That certain steps taken during the investigation went well beyond what was appropriate does not undermine the importance of the board's mission in this matter."ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair on has rejected calls for him to step down after being questioned by police as part of a political corruption investigation.
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By Pete Carey and Therese Poletti, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  Sep. 21--As the uproar has grown over Hewlett-Packard's investigation of  boardroom leaks, there has been an island of silence surrounding HP's chief  executive, Mark Hurd.
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd knew of plans for a disinformation campaign designed to find the source ofÂ leaks from boardroom discussions, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The report implicates Hurd more deeply in the scandal than was previously believed. The HP CEO and President is set toÂ replace Patricia DunnÂ as chairman of the company's board of directors in January. Dunn said she would step down Sept. 12 as the result of an internal investigation into practices used to find the source of news leaks about matters discussed by the board. The disinformation campaign was designed to uncover the source of the leaks by creating a phony HP insider who would gain the trust of a reporter, feed her false information, and in the process place a software tracer on her e-mail using an attachment, according to e-mails obtained by the Post. The nonexistent insider's persona was created by HP Senior Counsel Kevin Hunsaker and an unnamed HP colleague of Hunsaker's in Boston, it said. None of the e-mails are from or to Hurd, but refer to his knowledge or approval of various actions, the report said. The Post did not say how it obtained the "more than two dozen" e-mails. HP declined to comment or to make Hurd available for an interview. Some of the e-mails were sent by Dunn, such as a Feb. 9 e-mail to Hunsaker and HP's General Counsel Ann O. Baskins. Dunn wrote, "I spoke with Mark and he is on board with the plan to use the info on new handheld [device]," the report said. The company had planned to feed the journalist information about an upcoming handheld product to help tease out the source of the leaks, the Post said. In a Feb. 22 e-mail to Hunsaker, Dunn wrote, "Kevin, I think this is very clever. As a matter of course anything that is going to potentially be seen outside HP should have Mark's approval as well," the report said. Dunn is referring to a slide of phony products Hunsaker had created to pass off to the reporter as inside information. Hunsaker sent an e-mail to Dunn on Feb. 23, stating, "FYI, I spoke to Mark a few minutes ago and he is fine with both the concept and the content," the report said. The Wall Street Journal also reported Thursday that it had seen internal HP emails suggesting that Hurd was closer to the leaks investigation than had previously been thought. HP's investigation into the leaks, and potential illegal conduct that may have occurred as part of it, will be the subject ofÂ House Subcommittee meetingÂ Sept. 28. Dunn and others areÂ scheduled to testifyÂ voluntarily regarding their role in and knowledge of the investigation and its methods. An outside private investigation firm hired by HP to look into the boardroom leaks may haveÂ illegally obtained the phone recordsÂ of HP employees, nine journalists who had written about the company, and some of its own board members. The use of a technique called pretexting, in which people disguise their identity in order to obtain private information about others, is at issue. So far the scandal has led to the resignation of two HP board members, along with Dunn saying she will step down as chairman in January.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Hewlett-Packard Co.'s chief ethics officer learned the company's detectives were relying on shady tactics to gather private phone records long before a boardroom battle over media leaks triggered criminal and congressional investigations .
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Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ.N Chief   Executive Mark Hurd told lawmakers on Thursday there were no   excuses for a probe of boardroom leaks that led investigators   to deceptively obtain private telephone records.
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Hewlett-Packard Co.  Chief  Executive Mark Hurd is not expected to face charges when  California's attorney general seeks indictments over a  boardroom leak probe, BusinessWeek reported in its online  edition on Wednesday.
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Citing his past judicial immunity, former French President Jacques Chirac refused to be questioned in a probe into an apparent smear scandal involving his successor, his office said Friday.
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UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith on Friday denied media reports that he ordered investigators to conceal payments from an international anti-bribery watchdog agency.
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Hewlett-Packard Co.  Chief Executive Mark Hurd is not expected to face charges when California's attorney general seeks indictments over a boardroom leak probe, BusinessWeek reported in its online edition on Wednesday.
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Beware the Babbio The executives willing to testify about their roles in the HP spy scandal have claimed a blissful ignorance around the legal ins and outs of obtaining phone records. Their defense has hinged on the idea that they were assured by hired investigators that any phone snooping was legal and that they did not become really concerned about how phone records were obtained until learning of the euphemism "pretexting." Even after learning about pretexting, it took executives weeks to comprehend in full the fraud behind the practice.â¦
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A police investigation which found no evidence of UK collusion with the CIA is backed by the government.