SILI-CON VALLEY: H-P PROBED FOR SPYING ON REPORTERS (exec spied on journos, company directors)

NY POST ^ | September 8, 2006 | PAUL THARP

[Liz]

In an secret attack on reporters in an attempt to find their sources, Hewlett-Packard's private eyes tapped into personal telephone records of journalists who had exposed the company's boardroom bickering and business weak spots..... the Hewlett-Packard officer who hired the private eyes - Chairwoman Patricia Dunn - was herself a former journalist whose rising paranoia over leaks to the media about her company's woes became an obsession that has dragged H-P into a far-reaching criminal probe.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer yesterday said laws were broken in the spying scandal and that charges are likely to be bought.......main target of H-P's snooping on reporters was Dawn Kawamoto, a business reporter for CNET News.com. She originally broke a story nine months ago about a secret board meeting at a posh spa..........Dunn, who felt she was betrayed by the meeting, ordered a probe of the leaks several months ago, involving hackers who pried into personal phone records of company directors. Lockyer's office said phone records of an undetermined number of other journalists also had been hacked.

[SnarlinCubBear]

The kumquat site is hilarious!

[SteveH]

Dunn, who felt she was betrayed by the meeting, ordered a probe of the leaks several months ago, involving hackers who pried into personal phone records of company directors. Lockyer's office said phone records of an undetermined number of other journalists also had been hacked.

Diversity goals slithered into HP in the late 1980s. By the time Carly arrived (promotion from without, regardless of the spirit of the HP Way), the rot had fully permeated the top, and became apparent to the outside world. This is the tip of a much bigger iceberg that goes way beyond emotions in the boardroom. Poor Bill and Dave are probably spinning at redline RPM by now. The problem is not Dunn and it is not Fiorina-- it is the mindset that approved giving them and others like them any power at all at HP. If the problem is so bad that the leadership spends their leadership capital burning up with feelings of superiority, resentment and jealosy towards each other and outsiders, there is no leadership left, only an echo of greatness that came before but which has since departed.

[VOA]

I'll recommend CNBC's "On The Money" for the juiciest reports on this
"situation".

It's especially good because the main anchor for the show (Dylan Ratigan, sp?)
had a good expose of the use of "pretexting" (lying) to get personal records
earlier in the year.

Also, the story of the skunk lurking around CNBC's office complex is pretty amusing.
Including their mock threat to drop the skunk off at FOX or CNN after
they capture it.

[HAL9000]

I'd bet a fair amount that these were phones that belonged to and were paid for by the company and as such, were company assets

I'll take you up on that bet because AT&T has already confirmed that Tom Perkins' personal telephone account records were pretexted. So how much do you want to bet?