Today and tomorrow have significant events occurring on each day. The common thread between these to extraordinary events for me is the problem of ethical standards and abuse in our world of technology and science. Hewlett-Packard reflects the problem as it emerged in a corporate real life situation, and Columbia University reflects an interdisciplinary approach dealing with the frontiers we face in our world. While the issues addressed begin with problems of ethics, they run the full spectrum into unlawful and criminal behaviour.

Today the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee will be holding hearings about the Hewlett-Packard Board of Directors insider leak investigation which used "pretexting" to obtain the personal phone records of directors, employees and journalists. Other means of espionage were at the very least contemplated. Today there will be five of the top people from Hewlett-Packard along with five of those outside contractors who will testify and respond to questions. Also, Hewlett-Packard's outside legal counsel will appear. Some of those toward the sharp end of the investigation have already stated that they will plead their right to be protected against self incrimination by the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Tomorrow Columbia University will launch a series of worldwide broadcasts via satellite and on the Internet involving a panel discussion by several top academics and those in the public concerning ""What Don’t We Know: Crossing Boundaries of Inquiry and Leadership." This will be the theme of this first such panel discussion hosted by Columbia's President. With a little expansion of the word "inquiry" its focus couldn't be more relevant to the events which occurred at Hewlett-Packard with respect to "leaderhip."

A little while ago I sent President Bollinger an Email which I published here about my experience since Columbia was developing a neurological centre as a result of a $200 million donation. In essence I cautioned him to avoid the problem of legitimate neurological research becoming tainted by the secret research using human guinea pigs by those rogues who could destroy the public's trust and confidence in science due to its malevolent instead of benevolent use. I also urged a complete interdisciplinary approach to these issues involving neurological science. In the Hewlett-Packard situation as it relates to abuse it appears that these rogues have tainted the corporation as a whole and its leadership both with respect to corporate management and with respect to the role of the corporation in society.

1. Congressional Hearing Into Hewlett-Packard's Pretexting Investigation Against Board of Director's Inside Information Leak

The Committee on Energy and Commerce, Joe Barton, Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives

Hearing
Hewlett-Packard’s Pretexting Scandal

Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
September 28, 2006
2123 Rayburn House Office Building
10:00 AM [1500 BST]

Hearing Webcast: Pending

The hearing will begin at approximately 10:00 AM [1500 BST]. The link to the broadcast will become active 10 minutes prior to the start of the hearing. Refresh your browser for the latest information.

http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/09282006hearing2042/hearing.htm

Hewlett-Packard’s Pretexting Scandal: Testimony of Patricia C. Dunn

Hewlett-Packard’s Pretexting Scandal: Testimony of Mark Hurd

2. Columbia University's Outstanding Faculty in a Webcast of the Columbia Campaign Launch with a Panel Moderated by Columbia's President Lee C Bollinger.

The Columbia Campaign will launch on September 29, 2006 in New York, Hong Kong, and London. The launch's formal program, scheduled to last approximately 90 minutes, will be telecast live via satellite and will include an unscripted discussion among some outstanding members of Columbia’s faculty, moderated by President Bollinger.

The Discussion

"What Don’t We Know: Crossing Boundaries of Inquiry and Leadership"

To ask "What Don’t We Know?" at a major university is to ask what are the most promising—and challenging—frontiers in knowledge and its application. How would this question be answered by a neuroscientist, a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine, a scholar of Japan, a physicist, an international business leader or a leading art critic? What are the most pressing issues in the study of the natural sciences, the humanities, the world’s social and economic systems, the human body’s systems, the past and how it bears on the present?

Moderated by President Bollinger, the discussion will include physician Mary D'Alton, Japan scholar Carol Gluck, physicist Brian Greene, Nobel Prize laureate neuroscientist Eric Kandel, writer Margo Jefferson, and University Trustee and business leader Vikram Pandit.

The Webcast

On September 29 at 9 a.m. EST [1400 BST] for campaign remarks or approximately 9:30 a.m. for the panel discussion, click on the following links:

http://alumni.columbia.edu/support/s6_7b.html#bios

3. Ten Hewlett-Packard employees and outside contractors appear before the investigatory subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and plead the the Fifth Amendment in the US Constitution which protects individuals from being forced to incriminate themselves. All ten were excused. They were followed by the former Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, outside Counsel Larry Sonsini, and a Mr Fred Adler an internal investigator who took up most of the time. After they left CEO Mark Hurd appeared alone before the committtee. Thanks to the marvels of technology, I was able to watch these hearings from London. My thanks to the US Congress and this committee for making this day's testimony available on the Internet to the world.

Mercury News Thursday, 29th September 2006

Incredulous lawmakers grill HP managers

Top HP Lawyer Resigns Over Leak Investigation Scandal

By Pete Carey and Therese Poletti

Ousted HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, right, and Larry W. Sonsini, chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, are sworn in before their testimony at the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006. Lawmakers denounced the intrusive tactics used in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s spying probe as a congressional hearing opened Thursday with stark comparisons between the tawdry affair and the 67-year-old company's reputation for integrity.

Dennis Cook / Associated Press

Hewlett-Packards's top current and former managers faced incredulous members of a congressional investigative committee today that compared their boardroom leak investigation to everything from the Watergate plumbers to the Keystone cops.

The executives were on hand to explain to the House Energy and Commerce subcommitte how HP came to use questionable methods, including the use of deception to obtain private phone- call records, in an investigation tracing boardroom leaks to news media.

Committee members expressed disbelief that nobody at HP's top level stepped forward to say the practice, legal or not, was unethical and should be stopped. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich, called the HP actions ``a plumbers' operation that would make Richard Nixon blush, were he still alive,'' referring to the 1970s Watergate break-in scandal that brought down the Nixon presidency.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15629555.htm

4. Rope a Dope: seduced by power. It's what we say it is until the house of cards collapses. This appears to be a case of misleading others. Is it incompetence or intentional?

BBC News Thursday, 28 September 2006, 15:47 GMT 16:47 UK

HP lawyer quits over 'spy' probe

Ann Baskins had worked for Hewlett Packard for 24 years

The top lawyer at Hewlett Packard (HP) has resigned, ahead of a congressional hearing into its snooping on the phone records of executives and journalists.

Ann Baskins was set to appear before the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee with HP's former chairman and its chief executive.

She later invoked her right not to testify, in order to avoid incriminating herself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5389556.stm