What you will find in the comments part :- Sept 7 : HP said to have spied on reporters
- Sept 8 : California Attorney General says HP tactics violate State laws, but unclear who to prosecute
- Sept 8 : HP's says Dunn will resign if asked by board
- Sept 8 : New York Times, CNET consider options over HP
- Sept 9 : Dunn is done ?
- Sept 11 : Feds and Congress ask for info !
- Sept 12 : HP's Board split over Dunn
- Sept 12 : Patricia Dunn to remain HP Chairman through January 2007 Board meeting and then demoted ! Board appoints Mark Hurd as successor
- Sept 12 : Keyworth says HP approved leaks !!!
- Sept 12 : HP insiders likely to face charges
- Sept 14 : HP spy scandal extends to employees !
- Sept 14 : Reporters 'outraged' over HP tactics
- Sept 15 : HP Execs asked to testify in Washington
- Sept 18 : Shareholder files suit
- Sept 18 : House committee awaits HP documents related to scandal
- Sept 18 : What HP Should Have Done
- Sept 19 : H-P security expert warned on leak probe
- Sept 19 : House committee receives H-P documents
- Sept 20 : House seeks more testimony in H-P case
- Sept 20: H-P considered spying on newsrooms !
- Sept 20: HP Scandal Reaches New Weirdness Level
- Sept 20: Did Mark Hurd approve a "sting" operation on a journalist ?
- Sept 21: H-P's Hurd to hold press conference on scandal sept 22
- Sept 21: HP shares down 5 percent as scandal deepens
- Sept 21: Democrat wants HP CEO to testify on leak scandal
- Sept 21: HP sponsors a privacy award...
- Sept 21: Hurd will testify before House committee sept 28
- Sept 22: Calif AG says no evidence to link HP CEO to crime
- Sept 22 : US Senate nears vote on HP-linked phone data issue
- Sept 22 : Mark Hurd named HP Chairman : Patricia Dunn is leaving Board.
- Sept 23 : HP Chair Resigns Amid Probe Fallout
- Sept 23 : Why Hurd needs to take some questions
- Sept 25 : HP Clears the Air, but Not the Cloud
- Sept 26 : HP Under Increasing Pressure to Overhaul Board
- Sept 26 : HP's most truthworthy man
- Sept 26 : The Men Who Conducted the HP Probe
- Sept 27 : Mark Hurd on the HP scandal
- Sept 28 : House panel releases HP testimony
- Sept 28 : Hypocrisy at Hewlett-Packard(fictional)
- Sept 28 : HP General Counsel Resigns Amid Scandal
- Sept 28 : Lawmakers Grill HP Over Spying Scandal, Making Comparisons to Enron and Watergate
- Sept 29 : HP Whistleblower Tried to Avert Scandal
- Sept 29 : 3 Execs Testify About HP's Spying Probe
- Sept 29 : Hurd: I'm not resigning
- Sept 29 : HP counsel leaves with millions in options, benefits
- Sept 29 : HP Goes to Washington (a tragi-comedy...)
- Sept 29 : Controlling The Damage At HP (everything you wanted to know about Mark Hurd).
- Sept 30 : As H-P scandal reaches peak, Hurd and HPQ are still solid
- Sept 31 : Internal Memo Details Hewlett-Packard Leak Hunt
- Oct 1 : Why Hurd needs to take some questions
- Oct 1 : 4 things HP's Hurd needs to do now
- Oct 2 : HP's costly scandal
- Oct 3 : HP CEO appears secure, but risks remain analysts say.
- Oct 3 : Hurd may have known about phone records in 2005
- Oct 4 : Reporters Reassigned in HP Spy Scandal
- Oct 4 : Indictments in HP case. But not for Mark Hurd.
- Oct 4 : HP's Hurd is contrite, but indictable ?
- Oct 5 : Investigations continue at HP
- Oct 5 : The Silver Lining in HP's Scandal
- Oct 6 : More Charges Possible in HP Spying Probe
- Oct 6 : Is Dunn Really A Felon ?
- Oct 7 : Fiorina could attract interest in HP leak probe
- Oct 8 : HP not alone with "rogue" investigations
- Oct 9 : Dunn calls allegations in HP scandal a 'myth'
- Oct 9 : Dunn said Perkins launched a disinformation campaign against her
- Oct 10 : Fiorina blames divisive HP board
- Oct 11 : Three in HP Scandal Plead Not Guilty
- Oct 14 : Calif. AG presses ahead with HP leak investigation
- Oct 21 : HP tells reporter security firm searched her trash
- Nov 2 : HP CEO responds to Congressional letter : he thought phone records were public...
- Nov 10 : Ex-HP Ethics Chief Pleads Not Guilty
- Nov 15 : Dunn pleads not guilty
- Nov 19 : H-P appoints first new board member since scandal
- Feb 12 : The New Yorker looks into HPGate
- Feb 27 : Ex-HP director laments corporate board trend
- March 1 : Dunn's lawyer blasts Perkins
- March 14 : Judge Drops Charges Against HP's Dunn
- April 24 : HP Ethics Chief Tackles Spying Scandal Aftermath : "the chances are "almost nil" for a repeat of last year's debacle".
- May 24 : Hewlett-Packard probe by SEC is settled
Once upon a time...
HP revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had used "an outside consulting firm" to obtain evidence that showed board member George Keyworth had disclosed information from board meetings to the media. Keyworth admitted he had spoken to the media about confidential board information and was asked to resign.
According the company filing, Keyworth refused to quit, saying that only shareholders could remove him from the board. Venture capitalist and H-P director Tom Perkins then quit in protest over how the Keyworth situation was handled.
The brouhaha grew out an investigation into press leaks that was launched by H-P's nonemployee director, Patricia Dunn, and covered information from meetings that took place both before and after the H-P board fired Fiorina in February 2005 and replaced her with former NCR chief Mark Hurd.
The latest upheaval at the Silicon Valley icon reads like a script from a soap opera...
- THE HP GATE -
RépondreSupprimerDear members of the HP board,
What about OUR "STANDARDS OF BUSINESS CONDUCT" ?
Do you think guys that we gonna care about your UTOPIAN ETHICS RULES anymore ?
What a shame for the HP brand that you are spoiling day after day!!!
I'm OUT of HP now and I'm quite happy to be far away from the new HP WAY.
The heart of your strategy is very wrong because not taking into consideration the employees interest which has a direct impact on HP revenue : QOS delivered to our customers. Soon or later, you will pay the price of your big management mistakes.
HP BOARD's motto : "TO PROTECT AND TO SERVE... OUR VERY OWN INTERESTS"
A french former HP employee
Maven: H-P Step-Down Talk Steps Up
RépondreSupprimerBy Marek Fuchs
Special to TheStreet.com
9/11/2006 10:04 AM EDT
If a board met on a Sunday and it was by telephone so there was no one there to see it, did the board actually meet?
Well, yes -- the directors just didn't decide anything.
And so the strange story of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ - commentary - Cramer's Take) spying drags its clumsy little way into a brand-new week.
As the saga went from bad to worse late last week, Patricia C. Dunn, the chairwoman, weighed in, saying she would not resign -- unless the board asked her to. I guess with the alternative of barricading herself in her office and living off a lifetime supply of cold pizza, she lacks flexibility in that regard.
On that note, the board will meet (telephonically, it is presumed) again this afternoon. What will happen?
This story has broken so strangely and Dunn has such strong skills of persuasion that if she emerges with a raise -- well, tug my toe, I've seen crazier.
In all seriousness, The New York Times reports this morning that a source familiar with the board meeting said that there was a good chance than Dunn is (and I apologize ahead of time for this) done.
Asscoaited Press :
RépondreSupprimerFBI Deputy Director John Pistole said in an interview with The Associated Press in San Francisco that the bureau was investigating two possible crimes: illegal computer intrusion and wiretapping. He did not give a timetable for when the inquiry would be completed.
The U.S. Attorney's office also issued a statement saying it was "investigating the processes employed in an investigation into possible sources of leaks."
The Congressional committee gave HP a week to name the private firm it hired to investigate the leaks and to turn over all "records and information related to the company's reported effort to obtain private phone records." The request was made as part of the panel's ongoing investigation into pretexting.
HP said in a regulatory filing that it was cooperating fully with the federal inquiry, along with the investigation by California's attorney general, who has said HP's investigation violated state law but not whether Dunn or anyone else would face criminal charges.
The nine reporters whose phone records were compromised are Pui-Wing Tam and George Anders of The Wall Street Journal; Peter Burrows, Ben Elgin and Roger Crockett of BusinessWeek; John Markoff of The New York Times; and Dawn Kawamoto, Tom Krazit and Stephen Shankland of CNET Networks Inc.'s News.com.
Investigators hired by HP also targeted Thomas Shankland, a semiretired geophysicist in Los Alamos, N.M., who is Stephen Shankland's father. The younger Shankland is married to Associated Press reporter Rachel Konrad, who has also covered HP.
Reporters 'outraged' over HP tactics
RépondreSupprimerNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A trade group representing financial reporters expressed indignation Thursday over the methods used during Hewlett-Packard's investigation of a leak by a company insider.
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers said it "is outraged that any company would stoop to unethical - if not illegal - means to gain access to a reporter's telephone records."
The group represents about 3,500 financial journalists.
The group's statement comes amid mounting criticism over the way the technology stalwart handled an internal investigation into company leaks.
HP (Charts) said last week that investigators it hired used "pretexting," a practice whereby someone impersonates someone else to gain access to personal records, during a probe conducted to find the source of company leaks.
It has confirmed the phone records of nine reporters were targeted during the investigation. The journalists whose records were targeted are Pui-Wing Tam and George Anders from The Wall Street Journal; Dawn Kawamoto, Tom Krazit and Stephen Shankland at Cnet; John Markoff at The New York Times; and Peter Burrows, Ben Elgin and Roger Crockett of BusinessWeek.
The records of Thomas Shankland, the father of Cnet's Stephen Shankland, also were targeted during the probe, HP has said.
"Journalists possess the same rights as any other citizens when it comes to the protection of their personal information," the group's statement said. Notes and conversations between reporters and their sources also are protected from search or review in many states, including California, the statement added.
The possibly illegal methods Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP's investigators used are being investigated by a wide range of authorities, including California's attorney general, the Department of Justice, the FBI and Congress.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has said a crime was committed and that he has enough evidence to file charges against HP officials and outside contractors.
His office said Thursday the investigation is ongoing, and it isn't working with a definitive deadline. "We are not wedded to a specific timeline. We will continue doing our job as long as it takes to be fully prepared in the case," spokesman Tom Dresslar told CNNMoney.com, referring to reports that have said indictments in the case could come within a week.
HP, one of the nation's largest tech firms, also is coming up on a deadline to turn over records related to its leak investigation to Congress. A spokesman from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce said Thursday that no documents have been received yet, but HP has until Monday to comply with the committee's request.
A source close to the investigation confirmed Thursday that one of the investigative firms used during the probe was a Boston firm called Security Outsourcing Solutions. HP declined to comment on the name of the investigative firm.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney for Northern California are also investigating. Their probe is focused on illegal computer intrusion and wiretapping, the bureau's deputy director said.
RépondreSupprimerLegal experts said the hired gumshoes who conducted the pretexting are the most likely targets for criminal charges. Others who could face charges include HP CEO Mark Hurd, embattled Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, who will step down in January because of the scandal, and HP's general counsel Ann Baskins, whose legal department oversaw the leaks investigation.
Dunn has admitted authorizing the investigation into who leaked boardroom secrets to reporters. But she said she was appalled when she learned that investigators used Social Security Numbers and other personal information to obtain the phone logs.
HP Execs Asked to Testify in Washington; Shareholder Files Suit Over Boardroom Scandal
RépondreSupprimerSAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Several key figures in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s possibly illegal investigation of media leaks were asked Friday to testify before a congressional panel.
A shareholder lawsuit also was filed Friday in a state court, alleging "substantial expense and damage" to the company from the investigators' use of a controversial ruse known as pretexting.
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The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee requested that HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn and General Counsel Ann Baskins appear at a Sept. 28 hearing of its Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, HP spokesman Mike Moeller said, declining to say whether either would testify.
"HP is fully cooperating with all ongoing investigations and inquiries, including the one being conducted by the House subcommittee," Moeller said.
Attorney Larry Sonsini, who served as an outside legal adviser to HP during its investigation, was also asked to appear, as was Ronald DeLia, who runs a Boston-area private investigation firm that was hired by HP to conduct the probe.
The request was made as part of the panel's ongoing investigation into pretexting -- the practice of impersonating people in order to access their personal information.
Dunn has acknowledged that she authorized the probe in which private investigators hired by HP used Social Security numbers and other personal information to pose as company directors, employees and journalists in order to access logs of their home and cellular phone calls.
As HP's staff attorney, Baskins allegedly oversaw the leaks investigation and declared it to be legal.
In Santa Clara County Superior Court, shareholder Juliet Worsham filed a lawsuit seeking to have Dunn, Baskins, HP CEO Mark Hurd and other company insiders found to have breached their fiduciary duties and abused their power. It asks for the defendants to reimburse Hewlett-Packard for any financial damage suffered by shareholders as a result of the pretexting scandal.
"Hurd will take no questions at the event and H-P isn't allowing any video cameras or flash photography. It will Webcast only the audio portion of the event"
RépondreSupprimerHP counsel leaves with millions in options, benefits
RépondreSupprimerHewlett-Packard Co.'s departing general counsel's resignation Thursday came with millions of dollars worth of options and retirement benefits.
In return, Ann Baskins agreed not to sue the company and cooperate with its investigation of tactics used in a controversial probe of boardroom leaks.
The details of Baskins' resignation agreement were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission after she declined to testify at a House hearing on Thursday.
In that filing the Palo Alto-based computer giant (NYSE:HPQ - News) said Baskins retains rights to exercise vested stock options, valued at nearly $3.7 million as of Sept. 27.
The company also said it will accelerate the vesting of other options so that the "aggregate intrinsic value" of the unvested options equals another $1 million on Nov. 20.
She also retains the balance of her 401-k plan, including company contributions, and other retirement benefits.
HP also agreed to indemnify Baskins "to the fullest extent permitted under HP's bylaws and applicable law;" an agreement by HP to advance expenses "actually and reasonably incurred in connection with any civil, criminal, administrative or investigative action, suit or other proceeding," with certain exceptions; mutual non-disparagement provisions; an agreement by Baskins not to induce any employee to terminate his or her employment with HP for a period of 12 months; and an agreement by HP to pay reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by Ms. Baskins in connection with negotiating the release agreement.
The SEC filing said the agreement "in no way limits the ability of Ms. Baskins or HP or its officers, directors and employees to respond to or cooperate with any government inquiry or investigation or to give truthful testimony as required by law."
The "new" HP Way
RépondreSupprimerAn HP IT employee, Fred Adler, during his testimony to the congressional sub-committee:
http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6120934.html
"If Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were alive today, they'd be appalled." Who said that?
Oh , yeah Mark Hurd a couple hours later , to the same congressional sub-committee
HP's costly scandal
RépondreSupprimerHewlett-Packard (HPQ) CEO Mark Hurd may have known as early as July 2005 that investigators were using phone records to find the source of boardroom leaks, the Wall Street Journal reported. But a memo suggests he didn't know anything illegal was going on. (Reuters) The computer maker paid spies more than $325,000 for work that included digging through trash and posing as journalists and board members to get their phone records. "Cost of catching leaks: $325,000," said Stanford University professor Paul Saffo. "Cost to company's reputation: Priceless." (Bloomberg)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) --
RépondreSupprimerWachovia Corp. Chief Executive G. Kennedy Thompson has been added to the Hewlett-Packard Co. board of directors, marking the electronics manufacturer's first boardroom appointment since a pretexting scandal roiled the firm earlier this year.
Thomson, 55, who has led Wachovia since 2000, will become the ninth member of the H-P's board. In order to ensure his appointment, H-P had to formally increase the size of its board to nine members, from eight.
Thomson's "strong independence, his extensive experience running a large complex organization, and outstanding character will make him a valued asset to our company," H-P Chairman Mark Hurd said in a statement released Friday.
The appointment comes just a day after H-P reported a well-received, fourth-quarter profit of $1.7 billion, or 60 cents a share, on $24.6 billion in revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter. During the same period a year ago, H-P earned $416 million, or 14 cents a share, on revenue of $22.9 billion.
The company also said in a regulatory filing that it was cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Communications Commission probes. It added that it was not worried about the investigations' status.
Hewlett-Packard probe by SEC is settled San Jose Mercury News, 5/24/07
RépondreSupprimerIn another attempt to move beyond last year's spying scandal, Hewlett-Packard said Wednesday that it settled an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over how the computer and printer giant disclosed the resignation of director Tom Perkins from its board in May 2006.
The more-detailed disclosure in September of why Perkins resigned blew the lid off the HP spying scandal. In a September SEC filing, HP disclosed that Perkins resigned from HP's board over his concerns over how HP chair Patricia Dunn conducted an internal investigation into boardroom leaks to reporters. HP's investigators had used a tactic known as pretexting to obtain personal phone records of board members, their families and journalists.
The SEC concluded that HP should not have limited its disclosure in May just to the fact that Perkins had resigned. It said HP should have reported that Perkins resigned because of a disagreement with HP's operations, policies or practices. The SEC said the company should have provided a brief description of the circumstances around the disagreement.
The SEC imposed no monetary or other penalty in connection with the settlement and said this incident was its first enforcement of a new rule in place since 2004.
"We think that the regulation is pretty clear, that if there is a disagreement with the company or its policies, it should be disclosed," said Marc Fagel, the SEC's chief of enforcement in San Francisco. Fagel said that the SEC chose not to fine or penalize HP because the rule is relatively new and because the company was acting on advice of its lawyers. "They did get legal advice," Fagel added. "We think that was the wrong advice."
He said HP interpreted the disagreement between Dunn and Perkins as personal and not necessary to disclose. But the disagreement was over how Dunn was handling a board meeting and a company investigation. "That goes to questions of corporate governance," Fagel said.
The Palo Alto company said it agreed, without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, to a cease and desist order in which it will no longer commit or cause any violations of the public reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.
"HP acted in what it believed to be a proper manner," Michael Holston, an HP executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. "However, we understand and accept the SEC's views and are pleased to put this investigation behind us."
Perkins, a prominent venture capitalist who waged a campaign exposing HP's investigation tactics, said he was pleased that the scandal was at an end.
"I am delighted that the HP boardroom drama is now satisfactorily concluded," Perkins said in an e-mail response. "Fortunately, it was never about HP itself. ... I am proud of HP as the world's biggest and best high-tech enterprise."