HP Chairman Patricia Dunn to resign

September 13, 2006

Hewlett-Packard has announced that the chairman of the company's board, Patricia Dunn will resign in January, following revelations that private investigators hired by the board to discover the source of media leaks had used false identities to obtain telephone records from service providers.

Chief Executive Mark Hurd will replace Dunn as chairman, though she will continue to remain a director on the board.

Bill Lockyer, California's Attorney General has indicated that company insiders are likely to face criminal charges.

George A. Keyworth II, a board member, accused of leaking information said he resigned only after Dunn agreed she would give up her post.

Those hired by the investigation company pretended to be others, a practice known as pretexting to obtain the phone logs of board members and journalists.