1. Patricia Dunn receives award and standing ovation, but there are dissenters. Read the full article.
Macworld.com/MacCentral September 21, 2006 7:27 am ET
Dunn to 'set the record straight' in HP case
By Robert Mullins, IDG News Service
Embattled Hewlett-Packard Co. chairman Patricia Dunn told an appreciative audience in San Francisco Wednesday night that she looks forward to the opportunity to “set the record straight” regarding allegations that she oversaw an internal investigation of the company which may have broken the law.
Dunn made the remarks during a previously-scheduled event where she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of a group of San Francisco Bay Area government and business leaders.
An audience of about 800 people at The Westin St. Francis hotel on San Francisco’s famed Union Square, gave Dunn a standing ovation.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/09/21/dunn/index.php
2. Top management at Hewlett-Packard briefed early on leak investigation.
Mercury News Wednesday 20th September 2006
Documents suggest HP's CEO knew of boardroom leak investigation
Mark Hurd was Notified While Investigation Continued
By Pete Carey and Therese Poletti
As the uproar has grown over Hewlett-Packard's investigation of boardroom leaks, there has been an island of silence surrounding HP's chief executive, Mark Hurd.
That could change now that a memo has surfaced showing in early March, Hurd and two other top people at HP were briefed on the multiple steps in HP's controversial investigation.
And more revelations about Hurd's involvement in the investigation came Wednesday with a Washington Post report that Hurd approved a ``sting'' by HP investigators to impersonate a disgruntled HP employee to trick a CNet reporter into revealing her sources for stories about HP board meetings.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15568364.htm
3. Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd apparently approved leak detecting sting operation.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15568364.htm
Washington Post Thursday, September 21, 2006; Page A01
HP CEO Allowed 'Sting' of Reporter: Chairman's E-Mails Detail Operation
By Ellen Nakashima and Yuki Noguchi, Staff Writers
Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Mark V. Hurd approved an elaborate "sting" operation on a reporter in February in an attempt to plug leaks to the media, according to an e-mail message sent by HP Chairman Patricia C. Dunn.
The document, one of more than two dozen e-mails obtained by The Washington Post, for the first time links Hurd to an internal investigation of media leaks that has led to criminal probes and will be the subject of a congressional hearing next week.
. . .
The e-mail operation demonstrated an intense degree of attention by Dunn, who often sent messages via a BlackBerry device, and by senior HP executives attempting to cultivate and trick a news reporter to find the identity of her source. A Hewlett-Packard spokesman declined to comment on the revelations or make Hurd or Dunn available for an interview.
. . .
A corporate spying effort this broad and orchestrated has never before been exposed, experts said.
"If you'd laid this out as a science fiction story, it'd be hard to believe it's true," said Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a District-based privacy watchdog group.
. . .
Sending someone an e-mail file, even under false pretenses, and then tracking whether it was forwarded may violate confidentiality policies, but is probably not illegal, said Robert Seiden, chief executive of Fortress Global Investigations Corp. If the company used its program to try to access other information from Kawamoto's computer, however, that would be a violation of federal law, he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/20/AR2006092001964.html?sub=AR
4. The Associated Press reports that The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times all reveal that Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd played a significant role earlier this year in the corporate spying. Chairwoman of the Board Patricia Dunn apparently had more involvement than she previously acknowledged. As noted here, however, she deferred to CEO Mark Hurd for anything that might go outside the company such as the bogus "handheld" new product information.
The Washington Post Thursday, September 21, 2006; 8:49 AM
Reports: HP Chief Had Role in Leak Probe
By The Associated Press
-- Three separate newspaper reviews of e-mail messages suggest Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd played a more direct role in an internal investigation of media leaks than previously disclosed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092100165.html
4. SEC wants more documents from Hewlett-Packard, and CEO Mark Hurd issues statement today. Hewlett-Packard's stock closes down -$2.04. How much is market risk, and how much is specific company risk? Who wants to own the stock of a company that cannot be trusted and engages in a surveillance "investigation" that will keep anyone of ability away while driving out good, trustworthy people? Hewlett-Packard has not respected the privacy of those associated with the company in its efforts to find the information leaker(s).
Mercury News Thursday, 21st Septemer 2006
SEC wants HP documents: requests report on Perkins Board resignation
By Pete Carey
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked Hewlett-Packard to provide documents on its internal investigation of boardroom leaks as well as the resignation of Tom Perkins from the board, the company disclosed today.
. . .
HP's stock ended trading today at $34.74, down $2.04 or 5.6 percent.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/15575639.htm
5. Hewlett-Packard is co-sponsor for a privacy award. When you stop laughing, read this article and check out the organisation's web site.
Mercury News/The Associated Press Thursday, 21st September 2006
HP sponsors 'privacy innovation' award
By Brian Bergstein
BOSTON - Insert your own punch line: Hewlett-Packard Co., the technology company facing federal and state investigations for spying on board members and journalists, is co-sponsor of an award for "privacy innovation."
. . .
One place to read about all this is none other than Privacy Innovation award's Web site. It contains a long list of privacy-related stories in the news, including the HP affair.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/15575004.htm
6. The ultimate loss of privacy: torture. Surveillance technology has now become a form of indefinite torture including personal injuries which are not seen like beating the bottom of the feet with a rubber hose. After eight years and one month of 24/7 totally invasive surveillance technology torture, I have sustained personal injuries which were deliberately created and exploited continuously to make them worse, terrify and cripple permanently. As shifty Tony Blair tried to justify the regime change in Iraq during past years, I've sent him and others correspondence about the fact of the continuous torture carried out against me by the US and UK governments by means of the indefinite and ultimately lethal use of surveillance technology. These are the rogues who will do anything if they can get away with it up to and including those at the top. What impact will this have on business and human activity when this surveillance technology becomes generally known?
BBC News Thursday, 21 September 2006, 16:27 GMT 17:27 UK
Iraq torture 'worse after Saddam'
 Allegations of severe torture have regularly emerged from Iraq |
Torture may be worse now in Iraq than under former leader Saddam Hussein, the UN's chief anti-torture expert says.
Manfred Nowak said the situation in Iraq was "out of control", with abuses being committed by security forces, militia groups and anti-US insurgents.
Bodies found in the Baghdad morgue "often bear signs of severe torture", said the human rights office of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq in a report.