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."

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.

HP Boise

[WED Fan]

I left HP, Boise during the disaster that was Carly.

Her "I-came-up-from-the-mailroom" speech was enough to make most in the Departmental LaserJet Division to wretch. But, at least she didn't go all Richard Nixon on everyone and send out eaves-dropping goon squads.

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?

Some much for an independent board

[mre5565]

The CEO is now the chairman of the board. While
Hurd was probably exasperated, and rightly felt
he had to take the reigns to prevent further
damage to his company, the post-Enron concept
of an independent board has just taken a big
step backward. In the long run this is bad
for shareholders (not just HP shareholders).

Re:Pretexting??

[lawpoop]

Here on uber-leet slashdot, we call it 'social engineering'.

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

Re:HP Boise

[Anonymous Coward]

Her "I-came-up-from-the-mailroom" speech

Is that speech listed on this page [hp.com]? I'd be interested in knowing which one it was.

High Crimes

[Doc Ruby]

Enough of this "pretexting" mumbo jumbo. It's "lying", fraud. Just because an exec does it doesn't require a euphamism to protect them from punishment like a mere human would get. They're not royalty who must be referred to with a "royal we" or "your highness". Their problems aren't "issues".

They're criminals. If anything, their crimes are worse, because they have more power and do more damage, while requiring more trust.

I find it offensive

[tkrotchko]

I find out that people won't calling what they did by the proper name:
      LYING

Pretexting? It sounds so much nicer, like what a kid would do to talk to their friends on a cell phone. And I blame the press for buying into it and reporting it rather than saying "Patricia Dunn lied to the phone company to fraudulently obtain phone records".

If it is Identity Theft...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is HP still based out of Oregon? If so then identity theft is what they should nail them for. Oregon has some very harsh anti identity theft laws.

A friend in an Oregon insurance office had a computer stolen. Because the computer contained customer's personal data the police went after the thief mostly as identity theft because the those penalties were higher then the ones for breaking and entering and for theft!

Re:Another example of the "Old Boy's Network"

[dfghjk]

No need to attach her gender to the issue. Criminal is enough.

Curiously, I've always felt that board members were inherently criminal ;-) For the most part, board member seats are used to gain inside access to politics and favor within other large corporations. It's scary to see just how interconnected boards really are.

Re:Head of Global Ops Too

[dan828]

Of course, they go to Rich Man's Prison.

You're misinformed. They go to federal "pound me in the ass" prison.

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.

Re:Pretexting??

[gdamore]

Don't get me wrong. I'm a staunch capitalist myself.

But the main difference between capitalism and communism is the difference between an individual working for self gain and an individual working for the greater good.

A true altruist will prefer communism where everybody gets basically equal treatment/salary, etc. But in a real world, communism doesn't work, because there are people like Ms. Dunn, and even people with otherwise good morals are going to work much harder for their own self-gain than for some "common" good. (Its not true of everyone. But I conjecture that it is true of _most_ people.)

In other words capitalism takes advantage of people's self-interest/greed, and only breaks down when people get _too_ successful. Communism breaks down right at the start. Neither system is perfect, but it is much easier to apply the necessary corrections to capitalism (e.g. anti-trust laws, etc.) than to communism (e.g. motivating a work force to be productive for some "greater" good.)

The main exception to this is probably when cooperating against a common foe, as in war time. In those cases, people often set aside their capitalistic tendencies and are willing to fight for their ideology/homeland/patriotism, whatever. But war is just capitalism practiced between nations with guns. :-)

Re:Head of Global Ops Too

[aevans]

This is why the US needs something like the Data Protection Act. Basically, it is supposed to ensure that the data which companies store is relevant, correct, not kept longer than necessary and only disclosed where appropriate.

"Supposed" being the key word. That's the clipper chip mindset. Back then we were smart enough to think letting the pigs control the means of production was worse than letting the farmers have control, or at least no better. At least the farmers had a stake in it.

If you want records to be accurate, and not disclosed inappropriately, prosecute their misuse. Sarbanes-Oxley has done wonders to reduce the amount of records. Actually, it wasn't the S-Ox legislation, it was the Anderson Accounting criminal investigations. S-Ox just created a market for outsourced paper shredders and email hosting, since most companies can't be bothered to waste time "documenting" their document retention strategies.