Press Release - Hewlett-Packard Pretexting Scandal
Hewlett-Packard Pretexting Scandal
WASHINGTON, DC, Sep 28 -
Statement by the Honorable Michael Burgess, MD
Hewlett-Packard Pretexting Scandal
September 28, 2006
Thank you Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your leadership in investigating this important issue. Today's hearing is additional evidence of the deceptive practice of pretexting. I am confident that our committee will continue to work diligently to protect the American public and their private records.
Pretexting is the impersonation and deception of others in order to gain access to other's personal information. We learn from an early age that lying is wrong, so I do not understand how an intelligent Chairwoman and her Board did not know these deceptive actions were wrong. Even if you somehow believed that what you were doing wasn't completely illegal, reasonable minds would still view these actions as completely out of bounds. Ms. Dunn, quite frankly, what were you thinking? The past two years, your company even won awards from TRUSTe as "The Most Trusted Company for Privacy Award" which was supposed to celebrate your respect for people's privacy. Your business model depends on the public's trust. How could you betray the public in this manner?
While HP's headlines have brought the issue of pretexting into the public's eye, this Committee has been working on this matter for some time. In fact, this past spring the Energy and Commerce Committee marked up comprehensive legislation that addresses this serious issue. H.R. 4943, "The Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act" will make pretexting for telephone records illegal and will strengthen security measures taken by telecommunications carriers to protect such records. If anything good can come from the questionable actions of HP, perhaps it will be a call to action to pass this important legislation.
Our market and economy depends on sound business actions by board of directors. Over the past few years, the public has been concerned about issues such outsourcing and ethical business practices. This has caused Congress to enact additional regulatory laws to legislate corporate behavior, such as Sarbanes Oxley. The market has recovered in part due to these Congressional actions.
For me, the HP scandal has hit close to home. In my home state of Texas, HP employees roughly 10,000 people. In my district, there are almost 200 of my constituent employed by your company. The employees of HP are hard workers, and they deserve to be able to trust their own Board of Directors. It is my hope that today's hearing will not only bring to light what the board did in regard to pretexting, but also shed some light on what they are now doing to ensure that they can regain the trust of the American public.
Again, Mr. Chairman, I think you for bringing this deplorable pretexting example before Congress and for giving HP the chance to explain their actions to the American public.
I yield back the remainder of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://burgess.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=51057