Hewlett-Packard responds

"HP disputes a number of facts in this story, but court orders prevent us from commenting directly on them. However, it is clear that this involves a former trusted HP executive who formed a competing business while working for HP. Our resulting lawsuit was brought based exclusively on documents recovered from company computers and from personal interviews. All of the alleged events involved occurred before HP took now well-documented steps to strengthen its investigative and ethical practices. These include, among other initiatives, the appointment of a senior ethics officer, the hiring of former assistant U.S. attorney Bart Schwartz to improve investigative procedures and the appointment of new directors to the company's board.

"The use of pretexting to obtain telephone call information in the Kona investigation was an aberration. While HP cannot conclude that investigators working on our behalf never previously used the tactic, such activity was not a normal part of HP's corporate investigations. Pretexting to obtain telephone call information has been clearly prohibited by the company since the events of last autumn."

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A pretext for revenge Hewlett-Packard says former VP Karl Kamb betrayed the company. He claims HP got his private phone records and spied on Dell. Fortune's Nicholas Varchaver reports. (Read the feature.)

--Bob Sherbin, Vice President, External Communications, Hewlett-Packard

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