Drivers? Where We're Going, We Don't Need Drivers...

Dunn Partially Done, Remains On Board So Company Can, Uh, Keep An Eye On Her

from the here-comes-the-hurd dept

Tue, Sep 12th 2006 7:19am — Joseph Weisenthal

As many expected, HP chairman Patricia Dunn will step down from her post for her role in the company's investigation into a boardroom leaker. Dunn, however, will retain a seat on the board, so at least for now, she's still held in higher regard than the leaker George Keyworth, who was not renominated for his seat. CEO Mark Hurd will assume the chairman role. In the company's release, it offered no explanation for why it waited until now to push Dunn out (assuming she was pushed), as opposed to doing it back in May, when information about the pretexting operation first surfaced (though we all have a pretty good idea). Either way, with several investigations going on into the spying, it's likely that this story will continue on. Ultimately, the one positive out of this is that there's been a lot more attention paid to identity theft, and the ease with which one's personal information can be stolen.

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19 Comments

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Lay Person, 12 Sep 2006 @ 8:16am

They need her...
They need Patty for a scapegoat.

Depending on how things go, she will either be fired or kept.

In any event, the other members of the board are certainly behind this. They can save themselves on account of Patty's actions. They hired Patty to do what they themselves didn't have the balls to do.
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Matt Bennett, 12 Sep 2006 @ 8:29am

Y'know, they were doing a whole segment on this on the radio, and it sounded very different from the way you described it previously, Mike. Firstly, at least it sounded like there were a whole series of leaks, and it was fairly serious competitive information. So it at least something worth taking serious steps to stop. It also sounded like The Board really DID authorize Dunn to do the investigation, and she was just the executor. Now, of course, it's pretty clear that the techniques involved were immoral and several flavors of illegal. It's not clear Dunn knew of the techniques used ahead of time, or at what point afterwards, though that bit could be more bull-crap than not.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Sep 2006 @ 8:34am

We also still don't know how the social security numbers of the reporter's husband or the board members were obtained by the private investigation company. They would have needed them to access the phone records. If this data were passed on to them by HP, then that would show complicity on HP's part.
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Matt Bennett, 12 Sep 2006 @ 8:36am

Ok, they raised that issue on the radio too, and it's silly. Finding out SS#'s is a joke. Yours is available like 10,000 places on the web. Used to be on licenses. I remember in the army, they stenciled them on our duffle bags.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Sep 2006 @ 8:45am

Matt,

this isnt 1970 anymore!!!!
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- transit60, 12 Sep 2006 @ 9:14am
  
  Re: It's not the 1970's
  Matt-"Yours is available like 10,000 places on the web", looks like he knows what decade he's in to me.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Sep 2006 @ 9:11am

I was born in 1977. I'm talking about stuff in the last decade, since the interenet was long established. They've been actively more tight on SS#'s for only like the last 2-3 years. Regardless, just about everyone's SS# is pretty darn easy to obtain, and I suspect it'll always be so.
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- Matt Bennett, 12 Sep 2006 @ 9:12am
  
  Re:
  that last comment was by me, don't know how it wound being credited to AC
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Beth, 12 Sep 2006 @ 9:31am

posted
I went to a state university (graduated 1996) and our student ID number was our SS # (along with our state driver's license #). Iin order for your grades to remain "private" they posted your SS # and your grade in the hall. heehee.

I know my credit card co, insurance, bank, etc. know my SS#, but does my Phone company??
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- pudro, 12 Sep 2006 @ 10:38am
  
  Re: posted
  DeVry University (Columbus, OH) still used SS# for ID when I almost went there in 2000, but they had stopped doing that by the time I actually did start there in 2003. So I'd say the earlier post about how they just started getting better with this in the last few years wasn't far off.
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Matt Bennett, 12 Sep 2006 @ 9:33am

I think so, at least if they use it as confirmation
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Beth, 12 Sep 2006 @ 9:35am

I long for the days where you just needed a fax, some letterhead and a forged signature.....
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JR Smith, 12 Sep 2006 @ 9:40am

boring
I can't think of anything more boring than this saga with the possibility of HP itself. Boring products, boring board... boring.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Sep 2006 @ 10:06am

You have the mind to read Techdirt daily and yet d
actually... its relatively easy to obtain SSN... not just because its used as a drivers license number, but is sometimes used as a personal identifier for others involved in accidents... if someone has been involved in an accident... its quite easy to get that public record of the accident... thats just one example. and yes your phone company has your SSN... its used to pull a credit report on you to find out if they want to make you pay a deposit before establishing your phone service.
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Grandfather Time, 12 Sep 2006 @ 10:14am

yeah some states even have your ss# as your dl#, so its pretty insipid if they think they can ever keep identify theft on the down low.... all someone really has to do is go old school and steal your wallet, as most people carry theirs in the wallet....even though the card its attatched to warns against this when you first recieve it....
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ScottieB, 12 Sep 2006 @ 10:40am

Spying??
Maybe the whitehouse has a better offer for her. Now that she has spying on her resume, maybe she can help out the CIA!!
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Matt Bennett, 12 Sep 2006 @ 10:58am

there it is. The inevitable "this all proves how the administration is 3vil" comment
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See Both Sides, 12 Sep 2006 @ 1:42pm

Between a rock and a hard place
I'm sure the board members signed Non Disclosure Agreements, so someone was violating that and damaging the company and its shareholders.

I don't concur with anyone violating the law but what was Dunn supposed to do.

Do nothing, allow the company to be damaged and then get sued by the shareholders for failing to perform her fiduciary responsiblity.

Refuse to follow the board's approved plan to investigate and then be removed from the board for failing to perform her duties

Initiate the investigation and specifically demand the PI to perform a "legal" investigation. That's what they are supposed to do anyway.

Its a no win situation.

Why not go after the PI and their likes and control this incideous business that has been allowed to violate our privacy year after year.

Then go after Dunn only if she knowingly aided and abetted the PI in an illegal action.
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somebody, 13 Sep 2006 @ 2:44pm

Don't we have any values anymore
The unfortunate aspect of this whole affair, and many of the comments that I have read, just points to the fact that Americans have lost their way and the moral fabric of our souls. it seems that most people don't care about the ethics of what they do as long as it servers their bottom line.
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