http://www.wired.com/news/politics/privacy/0,71749-0.html 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 anything." 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 previous investigations." 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 records." 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. _________________________________ HITBSecConf2006 - Malaysia The largest network security event in Asia 32 internationally renowned speakers 7 tracks of hands-on technical training sessions. Register now: http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2006kl/
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