HP faces claims of spying on Dell
Published: 25 Jan 2007 08:59 GMT
…for additional consulting fees totaling about $10,000 a month to be funnelled to Iizuka through a consulting firm called "Imagine That", which was run by one of Kamb's paramours.
Among the documents Kamb included in his filing were emails he says were exchanged between himself, Iizuka and various HP employees.
In a pair of emails from January 2003, Iizuka appears to be exchanging information on Dell's upcoming printer lineup with HP employees. In one dated 16 January, 2003, Iizuka says he has met the person responsible for managing printer sales for Lexmark, the company that builds Dell's printers. He adds: "I could try to get some information about Dell/Lexmark and Dell-branded product over there."
In a 20 February, 2003, email exchange that appears to be between two HP employees, one of the employees said: "Dell will introduce three printer models in the late March/Early April timeframe," according to the filing. The email includes prices and specifications of Dell printers.
Dell printers made their debut in March 2003. A Dell spokesman declined to comment about the court cases, but did say that Iizuka left Dell eight years prior to the company's entry into the printer business.
Both HP and the defendants named in its original suit are accusing each other of civil offences. HP alleges trade secret misappropriation, fraud, civil conspiracy and violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). For his part, Kamb said HP is liable for breach of contract, civil conspiracy, invasion of privacy (because of pretexting), and also violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and RICO.
If any of the allegations are substantially true, prosecutors could bring criminal charges as well. Pretexting may violate state laws and common law rules prohibiting fraud. Trade secret misappropriation can be a federal crime under the federal Economic Espionage Act of 1996, and punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
More claims of HP pretexting
Following the alleged espionage campaign, Kamb says in his filing that someone at the company erroneously concluded that he was pocketing some of the money meant to pay off Iizuka. He was ordered back to the US.
Some of the details at this point are sketchy. What is clear is that Kamb's then-wife, Susan Michelle Kamb, filed for divorce on grounds including adultery and sent HP a subpoena on 4 August, 2005, asking for information about her husband's involvement with Byd:sign.
As a result, according to Kamb, sometime in August 2005, HP "engaged in clandestine acts" to obtain his private telephone records including pretexting attempts aimed at T-Mobile, which were unsuccessful, and Sprint, which were successful. On 31 August, 2005, his attorney sent Hunsaker, then an HP attorney, a demand that the company stop spying on him.
In a written response a few days later, Hunsaker denied that HP had ever tried to obtain his phone records. Hunsaker, who is also facing criminal charges arising out of the pretexting of journalists — including three reporters from CNET News.com, ZDNet UK's sister site — was a senior HP lawyer and its chief ethics officer.
Kamb says that last autumn's investigation into HP's attempts to unearth a news leak demonstrate that HP attempted to spy on Kamb.
Last August, when it became clear that the public was to be made aware of HP's attempts to uncover a news leak, the company hired attorneys to interview everyone involved. Hunsaker was interviewed on 25 August, 2006.
"Hunsaker first learned that HP had used pretexting to obtain phone records in July 2005 in connection with an unrelated HP investigation," attorneys working for law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati wrote in their report, a copy of which was released by the congressional committee investigating HP. "One of the subjects of that investigation was going through a messy divorce."
A call to Hunsaker's attorney was not returned Wednesday, but he has said in the past that his client was misquoted by the Wilson, Sonsini attorneys who interviewed him.
Kamb is now living in Las Vegas. A local Fox News affiliate, Fox 5, announced earlier this month that it has retained him as a "Dream Team" member to provide commentary on how to get more from new "products and innovations to suit the Vegas lifestyle".
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