In a packed committee room on Capitol Hill yesterday, former Hewlett-Packard (HP) chairwoman Patricia Dunn denied responsibility for the company's spying scandal, but said the methods used to investigate boardroom leaks were common throughout corporate America.
With some legislators comparing the scandal to Enron, Ms Dunn struggled to reconcile her claim that she did not know the details of the probe with e-mails and other company documents presented to the congressional investigating committee.
Ms Dunn said she regretted the tactics used to investigate leaks but claimed she knew nothing of the most controversial methods, including "pretexting" - the misrepresentation of someone's identity to obtain phone records.
"If I knew then what I know now, I would have done things differently," she said.
Ms Dunn said the scandal surrounding the methods used by HP executives highlighted the need for clearer rules on privacy.
"The fact that so many lawyers who were involved in the HP matter could turn out to be either so misled or so uncertain as to the legality of 'pretexting' speaks volumes as to the need for unambiguous legislation to protect individual privacy," she said.
Ms Dunn resigned as chairwoman last week amid a flood of revelations about the leak investigation, which saw investigators masquerading as HP directors,employees and reporters to obtain their telephone records, spying on executives and their relatives and sifting through rubbish to find evidence. Investigators also discussed plans to plant spies in newspaper newsrooms and to send covert photographers to follow a board director's wife to a bingo parlour.
Ms Dunn said she was assured by HP's top lawyer that all of the investigative methods used in the probe were legal.
"I believe these methods may be quite common, not just at Hewlett-Packard but at companies around the country," she said.
Ms Dunn told the committee she was under the impression that HP finance chief Bob Wayman had given the go-ahead for the investigation into persistent leaks about divisions at board level.
"It was my assumption that Mr Wayman, having ultimate authority over all the resources involved in security and investigations, as well as having been one of the directors who felt the most strongly about the importance of controlling leaks from the board, had provided authorisation for whatever work was undertaken," she said. Committee members expressed scepticism in the face of Ms Dunn's denial of responsibility and the senior Democrat John Dingell asked how she could think the practices used in the investigation were ethical.
"Why weren't you paying attention at briefings and why didn't you read the reports that raised red flags. Where was board leadership and responsibility?" he said.
Republican congressman Cliff Stearns described the HP probe as "part Keystone Cops, part Mission Impossible and perhaps part of All The President's Men, all tied together".
The congressional committee investigating the scandal called a number of senior HP executives, outside lawyers and investigators but 10 of those called have used their Fifth Amendment right not to testify for fear of self-incrimination. Committee chairman Joe Barton said he had never seen so many witnesses take the Fifth Amendment and remarked that it was odd that they would refuse to testify about practices they say are perfectly legal.
The scandal claimed its fourth senior executive yesterday when company lawyer Ann Baskins resigned before she was due to testify.
HP's chief executive Mark Hurd, who was also due to testify yesterday, said in a written submission that, although the methods were wrong, HP had to stop leaks of confidential information from the boardroom.
"The leaks were wrong and we had an obligation to our employees and shareholders to resolve the problem. However, two wrongs do not make a right," he said.
