HP chairwoman could go today

Crisis meeting planned over journalist phone number scandal

HP could lose its chairwoman as early as today [Tuesday, 12 September] as the scandal over spying on journalists escalates.

The IT giant’s board is due to meet again today to discuss the crisis and many watchers have called for HP chair Patricia Dunn to resign after it was revealed that she ordered an investigation into the source of leaks from HP’s board. The search by private investigators included the discovery of reporters’ phone records acquired through false pretences. Although many watchers have criticised Dunn’s conduct, she has said that she was “appalled” by the investigative methods and will continue to serve HP unless asked to stand down.

A short statement posted to HP’s web site yesterday said, “The HP board of directors met for several hours Sunday morning. It has agreed to reconvene late Monday afternoon. No further statement will be forthcoming from the company before that time.”

In an email to IT Week, HP said, “HP has had a long history of leaks of classified company information by its board of directors that had to be stopped. While the investigation into the breaches of confidentiality was necessary, HP deeply regrets that pretexting [gaining information under a false pretext] for phone records was used and we apologise to those who were subjected to it. We are resolute in our commitment to ensure that this deplorable practice will not be employed in the future.”

In a leaked memo to staff, HP chief executive Mark Hurd wrote, “Clearly, things have happened here that are unacceptable. But we will not react to speculation. Instead, we will continue to gather and review all the relevant facts. I can assure you we will get to the bottom of this and take appropriate action.”

The HP Technology Forum takes place in Houston next week. However, a spokesman for HP user group Encompass said members were more interested in HP products and strategy.

“The members are focused entirely on technology,” he said. “The people who are in the user group are in the trenches and have a policy of not commenting on management”.

In 2000, Oracle used an investigative agency to look into Microsoft’s alleged financial links with research groups. Tactics used by the agency included searching through Microsoft’s rubbish.

“Maybe our investigation organisation may have done things unsavoury, but it's not illegal,” said Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison at the time. “We got the truth out."