p2pnet - rss feed: HP raided journo phone records
p2pnet.net News:- Private investigators hired by Hewlett-Packard used social engineering to get reporters’ telephone records without permission, says MSNBC.
HP boss Patricia Dunn has already come under fire because her attempts to find out who leaked confidential information included spying on senior executives and now, "The investigators got the records by impersonating journalists from the Wall Street Journal, CNET.com and other news organizations in a practise known as ‘pretexting’," the company said, according to the story.
"HP spokesman Michael Moeller said that ‘there are other journalists’ whose records were improperly accessed, but would not say how many others were involved."
But according to Moeller, "HP is absolutely dismayed that the records of journalists were accessed without their knowledge" and the company is, "completely and fully cooperating with the state attorney general’s investigation into HP and this incident."
It’s not clear how widespread pretexting is, "but its perpetrators appear to be mostly private investigators, seeking information for clients involved in divorces or other civil disputes," says The New York Times.
"Hewlett-Packard used investigators to try to ferret out which company directors had leaked information to reporters.
"Some consumer and privacy advocates say the problem is serious and growing, especially for cellphone records. EPIC [Electronic Privacy Information Center] says that as of last year there were around 40 companies using pretexting to help others fraudulently obtain phone records."
Also See:
MSNBC - HP investigators hacked reporters’ phone data, September 7, 2006
The New York Times - With a Little Stealth, Just About Anyone Can Get Phone Records, September 7, 2006
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