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On September 5, 2006, Newsweek revealed〔(Suspicions and Spies in Silicon Valley | Newsweek Business |Newsweek.com )〕 that Hewlett-Packard's general counsel, 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 comprehensive story of HP spying scandal along with critical discussion on involving corporate governance and ethical issues is available at 〕 In turn, those security experts recruited private investigators who used a spying technique known as pretexting. 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. The information leaked related to HP's long-term strategy and was published as part of a CNET article〔(HP outlines long-term strategy |CNET News.com )〕 in January 2006. HP hired public relations firm Sitrick and Company to manage their media relations during the crisis. Patricia Dunn claimed she did not know beforehand the methods the investigators used to try to determine the source of the leak. Board member George Keyworth was ultimately accused of being the source and on September 12, 2006, he resigned, although he continued to deny making unauthorized disclosures of confidential information to journalists and was thanked by Mark Hurd for his board service.〔(News Release: George Keyworth Resigns as HP Director )〕 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. Then, on September 22, 2006 HP announced that Dunn had resigned as chairwoman because of the "distraction her presence on our board" created.〔(News Release: Patricia Dunn Resigns from HP Board )〕 On September 28, 2006, Ann Baskins, HP's general counsel, resigned〔(HP General Counsel Resigns )〕 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. ==Investigation by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce== On September 11, 2006, CNET News.com publicly released a five-page letter written by the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce to Patricia Dunn stating that it had, for the past seven months, been conducting an investigation on Internet-based data brokers who allegedly use "lies, fraud and deception" to acquire personal information, and allow anyone who pay a "modest fee" to acquire "itemized incoming and outgoing call logs", not only for cell phone numbers but also for VoIP numbers, landline numbers, and unpublished phone numbers. Additional data that could be obtained included addresses and other personal data, obtained without the consent or prior notice to the owner of the number. The committee had learned about HP's use of pretexting through its September 6 SEC filing and through their own inquiry of HP's Nominating and Governance Committee, stating they are "troubled" by the information, "particularly that it involves HP—one of America's corporate icons." The committee requested, under Rules X and XI of the United States House of Representatives, the following information from HP by September 18, 2006:〔http://i.n.com.com/pdf/ne/2006/househp_letter.pdf〕 1. The name and identity of the outside consulting firm cited in HP's September 6, 2006, filing with the SEC (the outside consulting firm), and of any other outside consultants who were hired by HP to assist in conducting the Leak Investigation. In addition to the above-mentioned information, the Committee on Energy and Commerce also requested the following information from HP by September 25, 2006: 12. All records relating either the Leak Investigation or Committee Inquiry, including but not limited to communications to or from the outside consulting firm, communications by or between HP employees or Board Members, and communications to or from the outside counsel. Please do not provide any copies of the actual telephone records or any other records procured. At the September 28, 2006 hearing, Dunn and Hurd both testified extensively about the investigation.〔(Dunn's prepared testimony )〕〔(Hurd's prepared testimony )〕 Dunn testified that until June or July 2006, she did not realize that "pretexting" could involve identity misrepresentation. Dunn repeatedly insisted that she had believed that personal phone records could be obtained through legal methods. Other witnesses, including Ann Baskins, HP's former General Counsel, Kevin Hunsaker, a six-year HP employee who was a former HP Senior Counsel and "Director of Ethics and Standards of Business Conduct," Anthony Gentilucci, former HP/Compaq/DEC chief of global investigations, and several private investigators invoked the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer questions due to the ongoing criminal investigations.〔 Baskins' attorney's letter to the committee contains several documents describing the investigatory methods, who was pretexted, and whether there were any illegal acts committed, including memoranda prepared by HP's outside law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati (Larry Sonsini was among the witnesses at the hearing.) Hunsaker's May 24 confidential "attorney-client privileged" final report, which gives full details of the investigation, is also available. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hewlett-Packard spying scandal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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