Phone Scam Charge Rocks HP (Board Members Phone Records Stolen)

[populistdriven]

By Kim Zetter
19:00 PM Sep, 05, 2006

Hewlett-Packard fraudulently obtained private phone records while trying to trace a media leak, according to a former board member who resigned when he learned of the action.

Tom Perkins, one of the founders of Silicon Valley venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and an HP board member until May, resigned after learning that HP consultants posed as Perkins and other board members to obtain their confidential telecommunications records -- a tactic known as pretexting.

The investigation was intended to uncover the source of a CNET News.com article published in January describing a confidential planning session among board members that took place over several days at a California resort spa.

"This is the corporate governance equivalent of using an elephant gun to shoot a butterfly in a gun-free zone," said Perkins's attorney, Viet Dinh, a former Justice Department attorney and author of the Patriot Act who now teaches at Georgetown University law school. "The unfortunate truth is that one of the world's largest and most respected corporations may have used fraudulent practices to spy on its own directors."

(more)

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/computers/0,71727-0.html?tw=rss.index

[w4rma]

1. He *resigned*? Now there is *noone* with ethics watching them. (nt)

[populistdriven]

2. Can't Blame him. How many times has HP done this to their employees????

[w4rma]

3. Sure I can. Quitting just makes it easier for them. (nt)

[populistdriven]

6. true, HP would be well served to beg for him to return

[Spazito]

4. Whoa, the incredible irony, not to mention the hypocrisy, of...

Perkins's attorney, Viet Dinh, a former Justice Department attorney and author of the Patriot Act and a major sycophant to the bush cabal to now be defending against spying.

He is such a POS.

[populistdriven]

5. He has a * scumbag is his lawyer - Looks like HP had reasonable cause

"This is the corporate governance equivalent of using an elephant gun to shoot a butterfly in a gun-free zone," said Perkins's attorney, Viet Dinh, a former Justice Department attorney and author of the Patriot Act who now teaches at Georgetown University law school. "The unfortunate truth is that one of the world's largest and most respected corporations may have used fraudulent practices to spy on its own directors."