By Kim Zetter
Sept, 07, 2006
At least nine journalists were swept up in Hewlett-Packard chairman
Patricia Dunn's furious search for a media leak on the company's board
of directors, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Dawn Kawamoto and Tom Krazit of CNET, and Pui-Wing Tam of The Wall
Street Journal were contacted this week by the California attorney
general's office regarding allegations that investigators working for HP
had impersonated them to obtain their private phone records, according
to stories in their publications. The company has maintained that it was
unaware that its investigator was engaging in fraudulent methods.
Seven other reporters were also caught up in the investigation,
according to the source, including a Business Week reporter.
According to CNET, on Wednesday HP provided the attorney general with a
partial list of reporters who might have been victims of the pretexting
but did not say how many were on the list. That list could include more
reporters than just Kawamoto and Tam but the attorney general's office
would not confirm that it had received such a list.
Nathan Barankin, spokesman for the California attorney general's office,
would not confirm the details in the CNET story. "It is an ongoing
criminal investigation," Barankin said. "I'm not saying anything about
Ryan Donovan, HP spokesman, also would not confirm whether HP had
provided the attorney general with a list of reporters' names. He did
confirm that more than one reporter is involved, but would not say how
many or provide Wired News with names. "I can't tell you what list of
materials they have requested or what we have provided only to say that
we are fully cooperating with any requests they make to us," he said,
adding that "HP is dismayed that the phone records of journalists were
accessed without their knowledge."
CNET did not respond to a request for comment by deadline time, but
information it published agrees with information that Wired News has
obtained from other sources.
The attorney general's office notified Kawamoto on Tuesday, the day that
initial facts about the HP issue came to light, to let her know that she
might have been a target of HP's investigation, according to the CNET
story and a source who spoke with Wired News. Then on Thursday the
office contacted her again to say that AT&T had confirmed that her
records had been pretexted and that the party who obtained her records
fraudulently provided AT&T with the last four digits of her husband's
Social Security number. According to the story, Kawamoto's home phone
number is registered in her husband's name.
HP's investigation of Kawamoto was sparked by a story that she
co-authored in January about a confidential meeting of Hewlett-Packard
board members that was based on information from an anonymous source.
According to one source who spoke with Wired News, board chairman Dunn
was incensed by the leak, as well as past media leaks about HP, and
hired an outside firm to determine who was speaking with reporters.
Dunn disclosed the investigation to the board on May 18, announced she
had discovered the source of the leak -- George Keyworth -- and asked
for the leaker's resignation. He refused. Board member Tom Perkins, a
founder of Silicon Valley venture capital giant Kliener Perkins Caufield
and Byers, resigned on the spot and subsequently asked for a review of
the investigators' methods.
HP on Wednesday issued a securities filing announcing Keyworth will not
be renominated to the board; disclosing the circumstances of Perkins'
resignation; and admitting it used pretexting to gain private phone
records of the board members. The filing did not mention its use of
pretexting to investigate reporters.
Perkins is currently out on his yacht and unavailable for comment. But
his attorney Viet Dinh said Perkins was pleased that HP appeared to be
acknowledging responsibility for its actions.
"HP's (SEC) filing on Wednesday was a significant step toward the
company recognizing its legal obligations to the shareholders," said
Dinh. "Law enforcement agencies are investigating these various charges
and we will let the chips fall where they may. Despite the controversy
Perkins believes in the performance and prospects of HP under the
leadership of Mark Hurd."
The Wall Street Journal also revealed in a story published today that
its reporter, Pui-Wing Tam, who broke a previous story about Carly
Fiorina's difficulties with the HP board, received an e-mail from a
California attorney general who told her she might have been a victim of
pretexting. The Journal declined to comment on the matter.
When asked if HP had conducted similar investigations in the past that
might have involved obtaining reporters' phone records, HP's Donovan
said, "I can't speak to the past. I don't have any information regarding
He added that "unauthorized disclosure of confidential information is a
violation of our standard of conduct. That's applicable to everyone --
including board members and employees. We investigate any and all
violations of those and take appropriate action."
He emphasized, however, that HP was unaware that its investigators were
engaging in anything that might be considered illegal.
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom
of the Press was appalled by news of HP's conduct.
"It shows incredible arrogance on the part of the company and disrespect
for the role that a free press plays in a democracy," Dalglish said.
"It's completely inappropriate and it clearly will have a chilling
effect on reporters being able to do stories where they have to rely on
confidential sources. There's a reason why there are so many safeguards
and hoops that the Justice Department has to go through to get phone
Dalglish said there are legal methods for a private party to seek to
obtain information about a media source without assaulting the media.
Typically in such cases, the party will file a "John Doe" lawsuit and
subpoena the reporter or publication for information about the identity
of their source. Although she said that generally such cases are not
successful if they are brought in a state court rather than a federal
court, if the state has strong laws that protect reporters' sources.
"If you are in state court, and it's a state offense, you would not be
successful in identifying the source, but in federal court you probably
would be," Dalglish said. She noted that there was a reason that HP
likely went the route it did instead of going through the court.
"California is one of the better states as far as protecting
confidential sources," she said. "My guess is they had to resort to the
illegal method because they knew that if they were to go to court in
California they wouldn't get it."
But even seeking a court remedy, Dalglish said, would have been extreme
in this case given that one of HPs former board members, who resigned in
the wake of the controversy, has said he didn't believe the CNET story
was particularly negative or embarrassing for HP.
"My response to that is (HP) should grow up," Dalglish said.
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