HP settles with California in spy scandal
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State says it has made a deal with PC maker over civil charges related to methods used in an HP leak investigation.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission approved settlements with Brocade Communications Systems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Mercury Interactive Corp. , the first companies to be fined since the government's crackdown on illegal stock options backdating began more than a year ago.
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By Ross Kerber and Sacha Pfeiffer, The Boston Globe  Sep. 14--California officials investigating the corporate spying issues  at Hewlett-Packard Co.
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California's Attorney General announced a $14.5 million civil settlement with Hewlett-Packard Co. this afternoon, three months after the Silicon Valley computer giant was engulfed in an ethics and spying scandal that led to criminal charges against former top executives.
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By Therese Poletti, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  SJ-0523-Hewlett-Packard-settles-with-SEC   Hewlett-Packard settles with SEC   Therese Poletti  San Jose  Mercury News, Calif.
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(InfoWorld) - Former Hewlett-Packard Co. chairwoman Patricia Dunn made a brief court appearance Thursday in Santa Clara County, California, to face four state felony charges in the HP boardroom scandal. Superior Court Judge Alfonso Fernandez scheduled her arraignment for Nov. 17, at which she will enter a plea to charges in the case. Also making an initial court appearance earlier in the day was Kevin Hunsaker, HP's former ethics counsel, who surrendered, was booked and was scheduled for an arraignment December 6, according to the office of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Three private investigators hired by HP to investigate suspected leaks to news media by HP directorsÂ were also charged Wednesday, but since they are from out-of-state, their court appearances will likely occur sometime next week, Lockyer's office said. Each of the five defendants face charges of fraudulent wire communications, wrongful use of computer data, identity theft and conspiracy. The state alleges that Dunn and Hunsaker authorized an investigation of leaks and hired the private investigators. The investigators allegedly obtained, under false pretenses, the phone records of individuals targeted in their investigation, including HP directors, some employees and journalists who cover the technology company.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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(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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California is creating a $13.5 million fund to protect privacy. And the state has Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) to thank for it.
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California's Attorney General is expected to announce a civil settlement with Hewlett-Packard Co. this afternoon, three months after the Silicon Valley computer giant was engulfed in an ethics and spying scandal that led to criminal charges against former top executives.
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By JORDAN ROBERTSON  SAN FRANCISCO - Investigators plan to search the Boston-area offices of a private investigation firm involved in the Hewlett-Packard Co. spying scandal, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Thursday.
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard has settled a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation regardingÂ the resignation of Tom Perkins from its board. Perkins was a central character in theÂ scandal at HPÂ over tactics the company used to try to find the source of internal information leaks. The SEC concluded that HP should have revealed that Perkins resigned because he disagreed with the companyâs activities. HP also should have described the circumstances around the disagreement, the SEC said. HP didn't admit to any wrongdoing but agreed to the SEC making a filing with its conclusions. The SEC wonât fine HP or impose any other penalties related to this investigation. Perkins quit the board in May last year when it was revealed that private investigators hired by HP may have used illegal methods to identify another board member as the source of leaks about the company to the media. He later urged the company to reveal the reasons behind his resignation. In September, HP did say in an SEC filing that Perkins resigned over the investigation. Perkins has publicly traded barbs with other former board members, including former chairman Patricia Dunn, about how the investigations into the internal leaks were handled.
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Hewlett-Packard settled cases with The New York Times Company and three BusinessWeek journalists after being caught spying on reporters in 2006.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) is getting out of the chip-making business. The Palo Alto, California, company on Thursday announced that it reached an agreement with Intel Corp.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. - Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed Thursday to pay $14.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer accusing the company of unfair business practices in its crusade to unmask the source of boardroom leaks to the news media.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. chairwoman Patricia Dunn, a former company lawyer, and three outside investigators wereÂ charged Wednesday in CaliforniaÂ on felony charges related to the conduct of an investigationÂ to track down news leaks from the HP board that allegedly broke state law.
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HP to pay 14.5 million dollars to settle charges in pretexting scandal    WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to pay 14.5 million dollars to settle civil charges stemming from a board-leak probe, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Department of Justice is asking questions about conduct by Hewlett-Packard Co. that has embroiled the technology company in controversy. HP acknowledged in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday that it isÂ cooperating with an inquiryÂ by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California intoÂ possibly illegal tactics used by investigators hired by HP to investigate news leaks from the company's board members. HP described the U.S. Attorney's inquiry as "informal" and said the questions are similar to those asked by the attorney general of California. HP is based in Palo Alto, California. "We are cooperating fully with these inquiries," HP said in its SEC filing. The probes are looking into the use of "pretexting" to search phone records to determine which board members may have been talking to reporters. The phone records of nine reporters from various news organizations were also obtained to determine who their sources from within HP might have been on stories about the company. Pretexting refers to posing as a phone company customer to get access to personal records. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer says a crime was committed in connection with the pretexting, but his office is still investigating what crime and by whom. The scandal has brought pressure on HP Chairman Patricia Dunn, who ordered the investigation, but claims she didn't know the outside investigative firm hired to trace the leaks would engage in pretexting. HP's board is meeting Monday for the second straight day to discuss its response to the controversy. Former HP director Thomas Perkins, who quit in protest in May because of the way the investigation was conducted, called on Dunn to resign. His statement, released Saturday by his attorney, was prompted by Dunn's comments in media interviews last week in which she alleged that it was Perkins who wanted "more aggressive measures" used to investigate the leaks, including use of lie detectors on board members. "I am saddened, but not surprised, that Patricia Dunn has attacked me personally for doing my job. I acted not from any ill will toward Ms. Dunn but to protect the best interests of HP. I think the past months and days have shown that those interests are best served if Ms. Dunn would resign from the board," said Jenkins in his statement. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission also is investigating HP. The FCC reportedly sent a "letter of inquiry" to AT&T Inc. asking how its customer phone records may have been accessed, according to an Associated Press report. An FCC spokesman could not confirm that. HP's internal probe identified director George Keyworth as the source for a CNet Networks Inc. story about HP's strategy, which the technology news Web site posted in January. He refused to resign when asked to doÂ so by Dunn in May, but theÂ board has since voted not to renominate him to his seat. Â