News What scandal led to the indictment of the ex-chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard?

[Astronuc]

Ex-Leader of H.P. Is Charged in California
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/business/04hewlettcnd.html

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 4 — State prosecutors brought felony charges today against Patricia C. Dunn, the former chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard, and four other people in the spying case that has rocked the company.

In addition to Ms. Dunn, the felony complaint names Kevin T. Hunsaker, a former senior lawyer at H.P.; Ronald L. DeLia, a Boston-area private detective; Joseph DePante, owner of Action Research Group, a Melbourne, Fla., information broker; and Bryan Wagner, a Littleton, Colo., man who is said to have obtained private phone records while working for Mr. DePante.

All of those named face four charges: using of false or fraudulent pretenses to obtain confidential information from a public utility, unauthorized access to computer data, identity theft, and conspiracy to commit each of those crimes. All of the charges are felonies.

The maximum penalty for the identity theft charge is a $1,000 fine and a year in jail. Fraudulent access to information from a public utility carries a possible one-year prison or jail term. Illegal access to computer data carries a maximum punishment of $10,000 and a three-year prison term.

The charges stem from an internal H.P. investigation into leaks from its board room.

The company hired Mr. DeLia, the owner of Security Outsourcing Solutions, who in turn hired Mr. DePante’s firm to gather information. The state charges that they used pretexting — pretending to be someone else — to obtain information from telephone company employees.

Ms. Dunn initiated the investigation in 2005 by contacting Mr. DeLia and received frequent reports on its progress, according to the company. Mr. Hunsaker, a senior counsel and director of ethics, supervised the investigation in 2006. Ms. Dunn resigned from the board last month. Mr. Hunsaker was fired after he refused to resign, his lawyer has said.

I am a bit surprised this didn't come up. Apparently individuals from some of the investigating companies misrepresented themselves to phone companies and obtained detailed phone records and personal information about various reporters and some HP executives.

Some of the phone companies are suing the investigating companies, and people they call 'pretexters'.

If you're not worried about government surveillance because its the government, just remember that people leave government with knowledge about surveillance, and they may go into business themselves with that knowledge. With outsourcing of such work, no telling where or how one's personal information will be used.

 

[berkeman]

Pretext me once, shame on you. Pretext me twice, shame on me.

Or after reading all this HP stuff, Pretext me once, shame on me.

 

[Integral]

This is not what Bill and Dave had in mind for their company.. What a shame. This simple fact is Carly killed and buried Hewlett Packard. HP is not the same and never will be again.

Within the last few months Upper Management had a wonderful DVD made and distributed to every employee. It contained a short documentary on the history of the company. Including many scenes with Bill and/or Dave discussing their ideas on how a company should be ran. Integrity was a keystone... Did the board watch this? I think not.

 

[Astronuc]

This is not what Bill and Dave had in mind for their company.. What a shame. This simple fact is Carly killed and buried Hewlett Packard. HP is not the same and never will be again.

Within the last few months Upper Management had a wonderful DVD made and distributed to every employee. It contained a short documentary on the history of the company. Including many scenes with Bill and/or Dave discussing their ideas on how a company should be ran. Integrity was a keystone... Did the board watch this? I think not.

This was exactly the concern that Bill and Dave had in the buyouts, and with the merger with Compaq, the HP would become just another corporate juggernaut. There concerns have been realized.

It seems that most CEOs are made of the same cloth as the politicians in Congress.

I still have my HP-41CX. I love it! It goes everywhere with me and is always close by.