HP's Dunn Stepping Down

XJHardware writes "Yahoo news is reporting that Patricia Dunn is stepping down from the chair of HP." From the article: "Hurd will retain his existing positions as chief executive and president and Dunn will remain as a director after she relinquishes the chair on Jan. 18. 'I am taking action to ensure that inappropriate investigative techniques will not be employed again. They have no place in HP,' Hurd said in a statement. Dunn apologized for the techniques used in the company's probe, which included 'pretexting' in which private investigators impersonated board members and journalists to acquire their phone records."

Comments

Pretexting??

[Harmonious Botch]

Maybe I'm old-fashioned. But in my day we called it 'lying'.

Re:Pretexting??

[Chris Burke]

Well, obviously the name "pretexting" is a lie itself, designed to cover up the uglier truth of "lying". It's all part of marketing corporate-speak, in which negative aspects of what you do are covered up through language trickery, in this case making up a word that nobody knows the meaning of.

I'm rather pleased that they have failed to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, but the fact that the word keeps getting repeated is bothersome. The news outlets should only be using that word in the context of explaining Dunn's lame attempt to cover up for fraud.

Re:Pretexting??

[Himring]

This truly boggles the mind. I work at a large corporation and watch/put up with insanity every day. It seems, at times, that the higher up you go the more insane things are. The old tale of "The Emporer's New Clothes," where insanity leads to a king walking naked down the streets, and only a child can see the truth, applies greatly.

I could write volumes on things that have happened in my career, but this HP debacle takes the cake. And the thing is, they feel entirely in their rights while they were doing it, after they were doing it and on up until they realized that they really had to explain themselves. They are confessing now because they got caught, not because they really felt it to be wrong. Thus are the ills of capitalism.

As a wise man once said: "Capitalism is the notion that evil men, doing evil things, will bring about the greatest good...." Or something to that effect....

Re:Pretexting??

[Pharmboy]

I am pretty sure that Communism had plenty of examples of spying and evil deeds. To assign this purely to the "ills of capitalism" demonstrates you are prejudiced against capitalism in general. My bet is that Ms. Dunn would be just as much of an ass if she were in power in a communist economy.

Capitalism does not require people act unethically, illegally or immorally. My fear is that people like you will simply use this situation to "prove" how capitalism is bad (and why whatever brand of economics you prefer is "right"), rather than understand it for what it is: PEOPLE that are bad, and would be just as bad, in any other economic system.

Another pisser is that by blaming capitalism, you are releasing her from fault, as it is "capitalism" that is at fault, and not an overzealous and unethical person, Ms. Dunn. She shares the blame with no one.

Pretexting

[TheRecklessWanderer]

So calling the phone company and pretending to be somebody else to get their records is called Pretexting??? I kinda thought that was called fraud. As for Dunn stepping down, the buck stops here, and if she can't keep control of her ship, then she would step down. Of course, it's probably a case of Nixonitis, i.e. everybody does it, but HP got caught.

Re:Head of Global Ops Too

[biglig2]

She's remaining a director after scamming the phone records of other directors? Frankly the entire board should go: the crooks should go because they're crooks, and the rest should go because they're crazy to stay on the board of a company that does this sort of thing.

By the way, isn't this sort of thing kind of illegal? Shouldn't people be going to jail?

Dunn will remain as a directo

[cerberusss]

FTA: (emphasis mine)

Hewlett-Packard Co. said Tuesday that Patricia Dunn will step down as chairwoman of the computer and printer maker in January amid a widening scandal involving a possibly illegal probe into media leaks. She will be succeeded by CEO Mark Hurd. Hurd will retain his existing positions as chief executive and president and Dunn will remain as a director.

Strange. So she knew about illegal practices being carried out because of her request, and then continues to have a seat??

Why is it that I get a visit from the police when I do some good ole' social engineering and get caught? And this woman gets a seat as a director?

Re:Head of Global Ops Too

[operagost]

Well, Kevin Mitnick got himself jail time doing this sort of thing. The only difference is that, not being a company insider, he had to start from scratch. When you already have people's SSNs because you are a high-level executive with power or influence over HR, it should be trivial.

Another example of the "Old Boy's Network"

[Anonymous Coward]

crushing a woman simply because she is powerful. Well, and amoral. Illegal, too.

Anyway, it's just the establishment putting someone down just because they are female and criminal.

Re:deck chairs on the titanic, nothing changed

[scardicat]

As a former employee of HP, I must agree. Today's HP is a far cry from the ethical 'roots in the garage' company I once used to be proud of. They fire workers who get anything done and keep the filth - it must be stinking up there now. I am watching with tears in my eyes, as Hurd and his band are tearing up the legacy of Bill and Dave. Bill and Dave must be rolling in their graves. May their souls rest in peace. HP still has some great engineers, but it wont be long before they all get booted out. From a company of engineers in overalls building amazing products, its turning into a place with PHBs in suits. RIP HP. scardicat

Terrible pun...

[Yuioup]

So maybe now GNU/Hurd will finally be Dunn...

Y

There ought to be a law!

[Fishstick]

but for some reason the idiodic press thought it was really cool and neat to invent a new word nobody would understand

close, the idiotic federal government apparently thought it needed an important sounding new word

There ought to be a law... There is!

Pretexting: Your Personal Information Revealed

When you think of your own personal assets, chances are your home, car, and savings and investments come to mind. But what about your Social Security number (SSN), telephone records and your bank and credit card account numbers? To people known as "pretexters," that information is a personal asset, too.

Pretexting is the practice of getting your personal information under false pretenses. Pretexters sell your information to people who may use it to get credit in your name, steal your assets, or to investigate or sue you. Pretexting is against the law.

How Pretexting Works
Pretexters use a variety of tactics to get your personal information. For example, a pretexter may call, claim he's from a survey firm, and ask you a few questions. When the pretexter has the information he wants, he uses it to call your financial institution. He pretends to be you or someone with authorized access to your account. He might claim that he's forgotten his checkbook and needs information about his account. In this way, the pretexter may be able to obtain personal information about you such as your SSN, bank and credit card account numbers, information in your credit report, and the existence and size of your savings and investment portfolios.

Keep in mind that some information about you may be a matter of public record, such as whether you own a home, pay your real estate taxes, or have ever filed for bankruptcy. It is not pretexting for another person to collect this kind of information.

There Ought to Be a Law -- There Is
Under federal law -- the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act -- 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.

The Federal Trade Commission Act also generally prohibits pretexting for sensitive consumer information.

Re:Head of Global Ops Too

[spun]

Bullshit. For every CEO jailed to keep the masses appeased, 10 more who did far worse go free. At that level of wealth and power, 90% of the people are sociopaths if not outright psychopaths. You can chant "class warfare rhetoric" with your fingers in your ears all you want, but the fact is, they know the difference, and we simply do not matter to people like that. They screw us over all the time, and when the story breaks, someone has to be sacrificed to appease the masses and keep up the illusion that it's only a "few bad apples" instead of a bushel of rotten worm infested fruit. Class is still an issues, as much as the owning class would like you to believe it isn't. Why do 10% of the people own and control 90% of the resources? Unless you are making over a million a year, you simply have no interests in common with these people, and anyone who defends them or mocks those who speak of class issues is traitor to their own kind, a toading sycophant who hopes that if they talk the owning class talk, they'll be let into the club. The only way your getting into that club is as a busboy.

What did Keyworth really do?

[twitter]

At least the slimy mofo George Keyworth who was blabbing to the press got his name slimed.

I'd love to know just what he "leaked" and why you hate him for doing it. The nearest I can tell from reading the Wikipedia, the "leak" was about Fiorina's $42,000,000 severance package which has two HP investors suing HP for violating their own payment caps. If that's all there is, Keyworth is a whistle blower. If you know something, I'd love to hear it.