RSSNYT: HP Press Spying Included Tracking
By Ed Oswald | Published September 18, 2006, 3:34 PM
Disturbing new developments have surfaced in the ongoing investigation into the Hewlett-Packard press leak scandal, possibly placing the company in more danger of legal trouble for its actions, according to people briefed on the project. Not only did the investigation include 'pretexting,' but also surveillance of board members and journalists, as well as an attempt to place tracking software on a journalist's PC.
An article in the Monday edition of the New York Times has given a much more in-depth look into the details of the investigation than has been previously reported. It also seems to indicate that HP relinquished much of the control to third-party investigators not soon after it began looking into the leak.
The investigation for the boardroom leaks began in January 2005, when the company endeavored to seek out who leaked HP's plans to remove Carly Fiorina as chairwoman and CEO. However, not soon after that the company turned to third-party investigators, and supervised very little -- if any -- of the investigation thereafter.
If the NYT report is true, it would clear HP of most of the charges of illicit spying on both its board of directors and journalists. At the same time, it raises a whole host of new charges, including negligence, for not keeping an eye on the investigators it had decided to hire.
At least one reporter, Dawn Kawamoto of CNET News.com, was possibly followed by investigators, who were apparently given photos of the journalists to assist them in tracking the individuals.
Additionally, she may have been the target of an attempt at planting software to track her communications, although the article said it was not specified which CNET reporter was sent a faked anonymous tip with the Trojan horse included, which failed. Kawamoto wrote a story about a senior management meeting alongside fellow CNET reporter Tom Krazit.
The information disclosed are part of documents being prepared for a September 28 hearing in Washington, D.C. in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It is fairly likely that additional revelations could surface when those documents become public at that time.
I am torn, because less face it, if more companies installed programs to track the their companies data ( work computers, laptops, that sort of thing ) perhaps their data and our data ( when its the case of perhaps a Credit Card Company ) we might feel more secure.
Here is where I think a line has to be drawn, at what point does a company have the right to protect its data ( by a worker ) who has data on his personal computer ( I don't even know who's computer had this "tracking" software ) tried to be installed ( you get the idea ).
As somebody in mangement for a company as large as HP, do you give up your right to privacy when it comes to anything connected to the company itself.
I think what I am getting at, does a company have a right to protect itself, if you want to be able work from your personal computer.
I cannot believe that CNET is taking an email with a trojan horse with any merit, considering every single known person ( who uses trojan horses ) could have done it.
We all know its easy to spoof your email address, I don't see how anyone could prove anyone sent anything to any reporter.
Perhaps I miss understood this story, perhaps I have not, even if my point is not even close to the topic I feel I have a good point about a companie's data.
Disregard if it has nothing to do witht his topic.
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|"An article in the Monday edition of the New York Times has given a much more in-depth look into the details of the investigation than has been previously reported. It also seems to indicate that HP relinquished much of the control to third-party investigators not soon after it began looking into the leak."
I thought this was a slam dunk case...until the NYT came out with this. It may still be a slam dunk, but now this article has caused me to look more into the details, and it seems there is no clear evidence that could prove that the HP CEO did anything that was unlawful. In fact, the NYT is actually making a huge deal out of something that occurrs with almost every major company--tracking software.
I may not be convincing here, because unfortunately I cannot disclose certain...information about specific companies, but needless to say, I guarantee those employees had surveilence software on their PCs. They've likely had surveilence software since at least 2004, to say the least. Illegal? Perhaps, but that is close to impossible to prove.
...Arrgh, I really can't even speak about this much more. Needless to say half of this craze is political BS. I'll leave it at that.
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|...
"Dawn Kawamoto of CNET
News.com, was possibly
followed by investigators,
who were apparently given
photos of the journalists
to assist them in tracking
the individuals"
...
~Nothing~ illegal there. Planting software, however,
violates felony computer-tampering statutes.
...
The Computer Rodent
...
"Share a file /
Share a jail cell
with HP executives !"
...
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|"Planting software, however,
violates felony computer-tampering statutes."
The problem with that is proving it--and more than likely, there wasn't any planted software. The info is gathered from nothing more than tracking cookies, and all data processing is happening on remote computers.
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