The computer giant will claim in a filing to financial regulator
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the leaks
came from board member George 'Jay' Keyworth and that he will not
be nominated for another term on the board.
Silicon Valley veteran Perkins resigned on the spot at a board
meeting in spring when the surveillance came to light. Keyworth has
said that he will not resign and will serve the remainder of his
term, which expires in spring.
Perkins is one of the most respected figures in the technology
world. He is a venture capitalist and a founder of the firm
Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, which was an early investor
in a string of technology giants, including Amazon.com, Compaq,
Netscape and Sun Microsystems. He was also chair of HP's corporate
governance committee.
Perkins has told reporters in the US that he resigned at the
board meeting where Dunn outlined the surveillance programme. It is
possible that the actions were illegal. US magazine Newsweek said
that it had seen an email from lawyers for HP to Perkins that
admitted that the information was obtained by 'pretexting'.
Pretexting is a form of social engineering that involves calling
up a phone company and pretending to be someone else. Third party
pretexters phoned the providers of board members' personal phone
accounts and used social security number information to convince
operators that they were the board member involved. Phone call
records were then sent to the investigators by the pretexters.
The Federal Trade Commission's website says that pretexting is
illegal, but some legal experts argue that the practice itself is
not illegal but it can lead to criminal activity such as identity
theft.
Newsweek reports that Perkins has lodged documents about the
affair with the SEC asking for an investigation. In those documents
he wrote that it is a "sad duty" to report "probable unlawful
conduct, improper board procedures and breakdowns in corporate
governance" at the firm.
"The situation is regrettable," Dunn has said in a statement
provided to the Wall Street Journal. "But the bottom line is that
the board has asserted its commitment to upholding the standards of
confidentiality that are critical to its functioning."
"A board can't serve effectively if there isn't complete trust
that what gets discussed stays in the room," she said.
