The firm has already admitted to hiring private investigators
who obtained phone records of board members and journalists without
permission. It emerged at the weekend, though, that the action
taken may have gone further and that one reporter may have been
followed as part of the investigations.
Leaked details of a secret internal investigation at HP suggest
that the investigation was overseen by Dunn and two of the
company's legal staff before it was handed to a network of private
investigators. The investigation appears to have found that the
illicit monitoring of phone records was a part of the operation
from the start.
As the crisis surrounding the world's second largest PC maker
escalates it has emerged that the firm's own press spokesman,
Michael Moeller, was the subject of call record monitoring. "Mark
[Hurd, CEO] and Patty have personally apologised to me. I think it
speaks volumes that I'm still doing my job," Moeller told reporters
in the US.
Dunn instigated the original hunt for the source of press leaks
as early as January 2005 when information about the ousting of
former chief executive Carly Fiorina emerged in press reports.
Investigators were hired and the source of the leak was eventually
identified.
When it emerged at a board meeting in spring that phone records
had been accessed without the knowledge or permission of directors,
board member Tom Perkins resigned immediately. The source of the
leaks was George Keyworth, who has now resigned from the board.
The actions may lead to criminal charges against HP officials.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has said that he could
decide as early as this week whether or not to press charges. He
said last week that he had enough evidence to press criminal
charges against those inside and outside the company.
The internal investigation found, according to leaks, that legal
opinion was sought at one stage about the action, but that the
opinion was given by a firm that shared an address with one of the
investigator firms hired to carry out the surveillance.
The investigation is also said to have uncovered evidence that
one of the reporters behind stories sourced from the leaks was
followed by private detectives. Dawn Kawamoto of CNet News may have
been followed in the course of the investigation, the internal
report has found. It also said that detectives attempted to plant
spy software on the computer of one of the nine journalists whose
phone records were obtained.
