Posted on 09/05/2006 5:02:04 PM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
... According to an internal HP e-mail, [Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia] Dunn then took the extraordinary step of authorizing a team of independent electronic-security experts to spy on the January 2006 communications of the other 10 directors-not the records of calls (or e-mails) from HP itself, but the records of phone calls made from personal accounts. That meant calls from the directors’ home and their private cell phones. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Tom Perkins did the right thing by resigning. I'd be surprised if Chairwoman Dunn keeps her job after this report.
It is too bad when some of the best companies in this country show this kind of corruption -- without companies of the quality of HP, the stock market would be nothing. Are we headed that way? Is selfish corruption and politics more important than investor interests in public companies??
Uh... if she actually authorized private investegators to tap private landlines and cell phone circuits, keeping her job is the least of her problems.
I would be surprised if she is able to stay out of jail.
In a perfect world, Tom Perkins will ultimately be invited back to become the NEW chairman of HP. He certainly has the history and heritage with the company, he has demonstrated his own ethical standards regarding the outrageous conduct of Patricia Dunn, and HP will want to send a message to all the shareholders that such behavior will not be tolerated.
Tom Perkins may well be that message.
A fascinating story.
I remember when the HP35 hand held calculator came on the market in the early 70's for around $400 bucks, my Dad still has his, and it still works like a champ.
Why would someone leak inside information? How do we know there isn't more to the story on that side such as a little profiting from insider information?
Another in a long string of idiot management types. Is America so bereft of executive talent that our corporations must be increasingly run by floozies, pinheads, and crooks?
there was no wire tapping, they did data mining to filter out the data pattern from phone records that can be bought and sold.
ethical? questionable.
legal? yes.
she won't go to jail, whether she can reamin HP's BOD Chair or even a Member remains to be seen.
HP is my primary competitor in the marketplace.....and we play on a big scale, big stakes. They're also one hell of a fine company.
I hate to see such things happen to them. They are and always have been a top notch company with top notch people. They deserve better from their 'leadership'.
My cousin, Myles Judd, was project manager for the HP35. I asked him why it had the name HP35 and he said, "Simple...it had 35 keys".
Pretexting is sort of a gray area of law.
From Wikipedia -
Pretexting is to pretend that you are someone who you are not, telling an untruth, or creating deception. The practice of pretexting involves tricking the telecom carrier into giving up personal information, in most cases, with the scammer pretending to be the customer. At present, the majority of wireless providers consider the practice of pretexting as illegal.~ snip ~
Thanks - what exactly had been done was not clear in the reports I've read, that's why I said "if" above.
And HP allegedly failed to comply with SEC regulations for filing reports about the Perkins resignation.
It remains to be seen if criminal charges will arise from this matter.
Expect her to replace Barbara Walters as host of the View.
I worked for a large telco on the left coast for almost 32 years. If I or any of my employees revealed content or customer's records we would be terminated immediately. I suppose the laws and corporate rules have changed.
I'm sure there is more to this story. I do not condone the method that the data mining took place. See my post # 15.
I'm wondering if there may be some short-selling or other reasons to try to drive down the prices. Maybe not.
One of the HP directors is Lawrence T. Babbio, Jr. - the president of Verizon Communications. It would be ironic if he is named as a defendant in the lawsuit on pretexting the Tom Perkins account at AT&T.
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