Hewlett-Packard spying scandal

On September 5, 2006, Newsweek revealed[1] that the general counsel of Hewlett-Packard, at the behest of HP chairwoman Patricia Dunn, had contracted a team of independent security experts to investigate board members and several journalists in order to identify the source of an information leak.

The pretexting involved investigators impersonating HP board members and nine journalists (including reporters for CNET, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal) in order to obtain their phone records.

[6] It was also announced at that time that Dunn would continue as chairwoman until January 18, 2007, at which point HP CEO Mark Hurd would succeed her.

[8] On September 28, 2006, Ann Baskins, HP's general counsel, resigned[9] hours before she was to appear as a witness before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where she would ultimately invoke the Fifth Amendment to refuse to answer questions.

The committee requested, under Rules X and XI of the United States House of Representatives, the following information from HP by September 18, 2006:[11]1.

A list of all individuals whose telephone records or other personal consumer information were procured by the outside consulting firm or by any party during the period January 1, 2005, to the present.

Copies of all reports prepared for the Leak Investigation by the outside consulting firm or by any other party, including any and all analysis or opinions regarding the appropriateness or legality of pretexting.

[15] On October 4, 2006, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed criminal charges and arrest warrants against Dunn, HP's former chief ethics officer Kevin Hunsaker, and three outside investigators.

Hunsaker and the two investigators pleaded no contest to the wire fraud count; those charges were dismissed pending their completion of 96 hours of community service.

On January 11, 2007, Bryan Wagner (a private investigator who was engaged by Hewlett-Packard who had already been charged in the California case) was charged by the federal government with conspiracy and identity theft for allegedly obtaining the Social Security Number of an unidentified journalist to obtain the journalist's phone records.

[23] Partially as a result of the case, however, Congress passed the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006, which specifically prohibits pretexting.