Patricia Dunn "resigns" from Hewlett-Packard after spying scandal

CNBC - Live broadcast | September 22, 2006

[HAL9000]

Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd announces he has accepted the resignation of former chairwoman Patricia Dunn from the board of directors as a result of the H-P leak investigation and spying scandal. MORE...

[nickcarraway]

Am I the only one who thinks the reaction to this story has actually gone overboard?

[SmithL]

Dunn's done.

[HAL9000]

Correction - she was to remain the chairwoman until January, but her resignation is now effective immediately.

[ShadowAce]

Tech company news

[jdm]

Yeah, they need to toner it down a bit.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Yeah, they need to toner it down a bit.

I copy that. They should stick to the fax.

[SF Republican]

Women at HP do not fair well; interesting, you would think with all of the "progressives" in the San Francisco Bay Area this would never happen. Maybe boys and girls are not simply programmed, the hard wiring is different (I have one of each and assure you it is)

[gipper81]

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

Am I the only one who thinks the reaction to this story has actually gone overboard?

Probably, since Dunn knew early on that the detectives were committing felonies.

[HAL9000]

H-P Lawyer: H-P will provide the information obtained from pretexting to the victims.

H-P has found at some instances where Social Security Numbers were unlawfully provide for pretexting purposes against four journalists, three board members, and one H-P employee.

H-P admits sending spyware in a trojan horse e-mail message to a reporter. Mark Hurd admits involvement in certain aspects of this project, but not the spyware.

H-P used physical surveillance on board members and journalists, including digging in their trashcans.

Lawyer says no evidence of wiretapping or keystroke logging, or planting spys as employees within newsrooms.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Yeah, they need to toner it down a bit.
I copy that. They should stick to the fax."

I'm sorry, what you both are saying just doesn't compute.

[jdm]

Related:

California Attorney General Says No Evidence Yet Linking HP CEO to Wrongdoing

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,215199,00.html

HP's Hurd says he never knew about tracer technology

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BCB3E7DF1%2D279F%2D4677%2DAE37%2D540AC704DFC3%7D&dist=rss&siteid=mktwdist%3Drss&siteid=mktw

FAQ: The HP boardroom leak scandal

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9003560&intsrc=news_ts_head

Hewlett-Packard switches into damage control mode

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/Sep/20060922Busi002.asp

Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd says Chairwoman Patricia Dunn has resigned, effective immediately

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/15584051.htm

Hewlett-Packard gets request from SEC about leak probe

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-hewlett2206sep22,0,1448681.story?coll=orl-business-headlines

[jdm]

Hurd: Dunn out as board chairman

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9003549&intsrc=news_ts_head

[OldFriend]

When are the leakers going to jail.

[BW2221]

SF Republican???

You must be lonelier than the Maytag repairmna.

[rit]

The only reason she did not submit her resume earlier was that her HP supplied printer cartridge was already out of ink.

[antiRepublicrat]

Probably, since Dunn knew early on that the detectives were committing felonies.

Not just Dunn. Their friggin' director of ethics/in-house cousel knew about it back in February.

Nick, if you don't care about the ethics surrounding this, I hope you care about false filings, remembering the Enron incident. They they signed a quarterly report to the SEC, falsifying it to cover up this incident, which could and did affect shareholder value. That CANNOT be allowed to happen. People seriously need to go to jail.

[nickcarraway]

Which report? I was referring to the spying.

[Revolting cat!]

Tomorrow's headline today:

Dunn's Done, Hurd Not Hurt!

[magua]

The HP way,my my.

[antiRepublicrat]

When are the leakers going to jail.

The leaking wasn't a criminal offense, but HP has dealt with the leaker as they see fit.

[SF Republican]

There are a few of us here but we are not too noisy. Factoid - I live IN San Francisco and am within 3 blocks of 4 Church's (1 Catholic, 2 Baptist, and a Lutheran).

[rit]

Another headline: Heard Hurd: "What's Done is Dunn"

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

She called Tech Support but it was already the middle of the
night in Calcutta, and no one answered.

[DB]

I think she should be out of there.

I also think she may well be facing criminal charges.

[rit]

If only a reporter would ask: "Were any of the non-employees spyed on by HP, registered HP customers?"

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

Which report? I was referring to the spying.

1. The spying involved multiple felonies in and of itself. Now, maybe you're OK with criminal conduct. I'm not.

2. A board member resigned over the spying and gave his reasons. HP was required to submit a report to the SEC detailing the resignation, including any communications with the board member regarding the reasons he left. HP submitted a false report that did not mention his quitting due to HP committing felonies.

3. So now we have a fraudulent SEC report tied to the spying. That's a major-league Sarbanes-Oxley violation.

4. Why is it that you have no problem with criminal activity?

[antiRepublicrat]

Which report? I was referring to the spying.

The story goes like this:

• They realize leaks are going on
• They investigate using illegal tactics
• Board member (not the leaker) finds out, has a long heated discussion at the board meeting and storms out saying he resigns
• HP files board minutes, saying he agrees with the investigation techniques
• HP files an 8-K report with the SEC, in which it is required by law to state the reason for board member resignations, reason given is "Unknown," without letting the board member review it as required by law
• Resigned board member reads report after it's filed and the minutes and goes ballistic, writing some serious letters to HP demanding they correct the report and minutes
• HP ignores him, so he goes public (they were implicating him in a crime, he was trying to clear himself)
• HP later files a new 8-K admitting what's going on, with its own spin, of course (didn't provide "written" notice of the reason? He stormed out of the board meeting, they knew why he resigned!)

Basically, HP tried to keep this damaging activity secret, even from the SEC, until the board member blew their cover.

[Moral Hazard]

"When are the leakers going to jail."

Probably at some point after they commit a crime.

[ArtyFO]

The REAL crime was investigating the MEDIA.

[nickcarraway]

To me, it's a little stange to go after one person for something that is so common and is completely ignored. If pretexting is bad, why is it only bad when HP does it? If Patty Dunn was a reporter, this wouldn't be an issue.

[nickcarraway]

1. The spying involved multiple felonies in and of itself. Now, maybe you're OK with criminal conduct. I'm not.

I have a problem with criminal activity, but I also have a problem with selective enforcment. There are companies that specialize in doing pretexting for major U.S. companies. It's happening all the time. When is it illegal?

[dljordan]

"H-P admits sending spyware in a trojan horse e-mail message to a reporter. Mark Hurd admits involvement in certain aspects of this project, but not the spyware."

That's good for jail time right there.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Why not:

"Hurd heard, Dunn done!"

[Revolting cat!]

Indeed. You win!

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

The beauty of FR is that...

'S'not a competition, only common understanding.

[isom35]

wow, no mention yet of "put a fork in her butt, she's Dunn".

[tubebender]

Is there any truth to the story I heard on the news today that the current CEO was involved in it also?

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

I have a problem with criminal activity, but I also have a problem with selective enforcment. There are companies that specialize in doing pretexting for major U.S. companies. It's happening all the time. When is it illegal?

When it's done in the state of California, where pretexting is itself a felony--that is not a universal stance across the country. Yes, the enforcement is "selective," in that sense.

[TechJunkYard]

Is there any truth to the story... that the current CEO was involved in it also?

Could be.

Dunn email claims Hurd approved reporter sting operation

[tubebender]

Thanks...I do a poor job of doing a search...

[HAL9000]

That's good for jail time right there.

It depends on how it was done. For example, using a web bug is probably legal.

The thing that may get them in the most serious trouble is identity theft by misusing Social Security numbers for pretexting purposes.

[TechJunkYard]

Keep an eye on Groklaw. PJ has been following this one pretty closely, with gusto. You can almost smell the personal outrage.

[punster]

Do you mean, "Dunn is Done."?

[SmithL]

yep

[Eva]

The company that my husband works for bugged my computer and all our cell phones. I had emails from my home computer, showing up as text mails on my phone and emails to and from my husband's office, showing up on my phone, as well. At the time, neither one of us knew how to even send a text message on our phones. Every time I tried to shut down my computer, I got a message that someone else was logged on. They disabled my virus protection and firewall, and every time I downloaded a new one, they did the same thing. This went on for about a year, actually it may have been exactly a year. It was about a political infight about a take-over. I would love to see the president of his division indicted and I suspect that there are many other victims of this corporate abuse that are following this case.