HP
Financial terms of the HP settlement were not disclosed

HP settles spying case

Firm reaches settlement with New York Times and BusinessWeek

Matt Chapman

HP has reached a settlement with The New York Times and three BusinessWeek reporters who had accused the company of spying.

The settlement was not the result of a lawsuit and came after private negotiations between HP and BusinessWeek's Ben Elgin, Peter Burrows and Roger Crockett, as well as New York Times reporter John Markoff. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Advertisement

HP had already paid the California Attorney General's office $14.5m to settle its legal case over the spying charges.

The scandal erupted in September 2006 after an internal HP investigation found evidence of misconduct by private investigators and company employees over attempts to identify the source of a boardroom leak.

It was later revealed that the operation, dubbed Kona II, included lying to phone companies in order to obtain private phone records, and equipping email messages with spyware to report forwarding.

The Kona II investigators were also alleged to have discussed placing surveillance equipment and informants in two national newsrooms.

What HP did was an affront to the free press

Terry Gross Lawyer, Gross & Belsky

"What HP did was an affront to the free press," Terry Gross, the San Francisco lawyer representing the parties told The New York Times.

"They did not like what reporters were writing, and they broke into their private telephone accounts to identify who their sources were."

HP said in a written statement that it is "happy to resolve the matter". But the company still faces lawsuits filed by three CNET reporters and one of their family members, as well as a journalist working for Associated Press.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Do you agree?

Further reading

HP

HP settles with SEC over pretexting scandal

Company agrees to cease-and-desist order

ISPs rush to enable online spies

Last day to rig networks to allow police surveillance

Journalists sue over HP spying scandal

Looking for punishment, not payout

Charges dropped against former HP chairman

Patricia Dunn escapes, but four others face 96 hours community service

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 13 Nov 09

This week we discuss the inaugural V3.co.uk Summit

Summit: Salesforce.com on SaaS and information overload

How web services contribute to data headaches

Analysis and Reports

Remote access - Three steps to getting connected

3.4 million UK professionals now work from home – is your company equipped?

Cost benefits of a global collaboration network

This white paper is a must read for organisations looking for evidence of the bottom-line benefits of high-definition video and voice communications

Poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

What is the biggest problem your firm faces as a result of the data explosion?

View poll results

Advertisement

White paper library

Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies; IThound.com brings you over 6,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Advertisement

Spotlight

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 13 Nov 09

This week we discuss the inaugural V3.co.uk Summit

Fingers on keyboard

New Flash vulnerability discovered

Web sites could be vulnerable to Flash attacks

Chris Adams

Summit: Microsoft Office to the rescue

Chris Adams, Office Client product manager for Microsoft UK, explains...

Illegal downloader

Industry and human rights campaigners united in opposition to "three strikes" plan

Critics says government proposals to curb illegal downloading are unworkable...

Primary Navigation