Intrigue in the Boardroom

September 7, 2006 5:30 PM

In an effort to track down the source of information leaks by Hewlett-Packard Co. insiders, private investigators hired company Chairwoman Patricia Dunn obtained reporters' telephone records illegally. They got the records by impersonating journalists from the Wall Street Journal, CNET.com and other news organizations in a practice known as “pretexting.” The news comes after the departure of HP director Tom Perkins [PDF], a founder of legendary venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in May. Perkins later learned from AT&T that his private records were also illegally obtained. State and federal investigations have been launched.
posted by ericb (18 comments total)

Previous discussion here on MeFi regarding "pretexting."
posted by ericb at 5:32 PM on September 7, 2006

One will recall the brouhah of obtaining phone records via pretexting this past January when Wesley Clark's phone records were purchased online by blogger John Avarosis for $89.95.
posted by ericb at 5:34 PM on September 7, 2006

*hired by company Chairwoman*
posted by ericb at 5:34 PM on September 7, 2006

I'm surprised this sort of thing isn't prosecuted as "wire fraud", how is "pretexting" different from the "social engineering" that Kevin Mitnick went to jail for?
posted by bobo123 at 5:45 PM on September 7, 2006

In this article about the HP chairwoman so incensed by corporate leakers that she is driven to engage in (probably) illegal behaviour, the best part is this:

According to a source who requested anonymity because of his closeness to HP...

posted by mhum at 5:52 PM on September 7, 2006

I'm surprised this sort of thing isn't prosecuted as "wire fraud", how is "pretexting" different from the "social engineering" that Kevin Mitnick went to jail for?

It's not. Hopefully someone will go to jail over that shit.
posted by delmoi at 6:16 PM on September 7, 2006

Right now, if I recall the WSJ article I read today about this, pretexting is only illegal in Illinois and California; the other states have laws against it with regard to "financial records," but phone records and similar utility billing outlets apparently don't count as "financial records." The article waited until the very end to say a federal law has been held up by concerns over "national security," but stopped with those words.

Talk about an article leaving you wanting more.
posted by mediareport at 6:19 PM on September 7, 2006

IANAL, but Mitnick not only "socially engineered" unauthorized access to systems, he also committed "conversion" of the proceeds of doing so in some of his crimes, by profiting from them through involvement of third parties. And, he kept doing these kinds of things from 1981 to at least 1995, and has now made a consulting business of it, and coauthored a couple of books. Morally, I think HP's CEO was hip deep in the mud of being on shaky ground, and if that board has any sense, she's history. But, to the extent she didn't commit conversion, the conspiracy she initiated didn't rise to the level of egregious behavior Mitnick's did.
posted by paulsc at 7:13 PM on September 7, 2006

. Morally, I think HP's CEO was hip deep in the mud of being on shaky ground, and if that board has any sense, she's history.

Carly Ferioni (however you spell it) is long gone. Got axed after the HP/Compaq merger didn't go as well as planned.
posted by rough ashlar at 8:05 PM on September 7, 2006

MSNBC also has a good article on HP's leakage investigation, Intrigue in High Places. Apparently the legal status of pretexting is murky:

Legal experts vary in their views on the extent to which pretexting is a violation of criminal law. The Gramm-Leach-Billey Act of 1999 bars a range of fraudulent activity related to financial records, but its applicability to phone records is unclear. Experts agree that pretexting is often used to accomplish identity theft—to borrow money or buy merchandise—that clearly is criminal. But the pretexting itself may be harder to prosecute. Civil liability would seem to be much more a risk for pretexters, as they obviously engage in an invasion of privacy, achieved through misrepresentation.

Per the Federal Trade Commission's ID Theft site — What is "pretexting" and what does it have to do with identity theft?:

By law, it's illegal for anyone to:

• Use false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution.
• Use forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution.
• Ask another person to get someone else's customer information using false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or using false, fictitious or fraudulent documents or forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen documents.

More of same in the FTC article, Pretexting: Your Personal Information Revealed. IANAL, but a strict reading of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act does seem to make pretexting illegal only if personal information is fraudulently obtained from financial institutions. A list of those who must comply with the GLBA doesn't include telecom companies.

In July 2005, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint with the FTC regarding the illegal sale of phone records. EPIC argues that this violates various provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Perhaps this is a better snare for HP's hired dicks?

Send lawyers, guns, and money...
posted by cenoxo at 8:12 PM on September 7, 2006

Dunn is done, stick a fork in her.
posted by caddis at 10:10 PM on September 7, 2006

It wasn't just the directors, but reporters too.
posted by caddis at 4:45 AM on September 8, 2006

This is probably way off-topic so I apologize for that, but how does a 4-month-old venture capital become "legendary?" Did they clean the Augean Stables in a single day or something?
posted by moonbiter at 8:27 AM on September 8, 2006

Kleiner Perkins is not four months old, more like 30 something, and yes, it is legendary.
posted by caddis at 8:41 AM on September 8, 2006

just to be clear, that is 30 something years
posted by caddis at 8:49 AM on September 8, 2006

paulsc: "Morally, I think HP's CEO was hip deep in the mud of being on shaky ground, and if that board has any sense, she's history."

If they have any sense, they'll get her a goddamned shovel or something.
posted by koeselitz at 9:17 AM on September 8, 2006

Oh, I see. He stepped down in May, he didn't found the firm in May. I misread.
posted by moonbiter at 9:28 AM on September 8, 2006

Hewlett-Packard Is Still Pondering Chairwoman’s Fate.

Fallout Continues From HP Probe.

FCC Questions AT&T Role in HP Scandal.
posted by ericb at 3:39 PM on September 11, 2006