HP chairman facing calls to quit

HP's board of directors met for several hours on Sunday but adjourned without announcing a decision on the fate of chairman Patricia Dunn, who is facing calls to resign in the wake of a probe of board members and journalists that involved personal phone records.

The company said it would reconvene today and would issue no further statements regarding the probe until that time.

Chairman Patricia Dunn has been at the centre of a controversy involving the ordinarily secret activities of HP's boardroom. After leaks to the press beginning in 2005, Dunn ordered an investigation of board members that led one to resign and another not to be renominated.

HP said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it hired an investigation company to try to track down board leaks to the media. The company in turn hired a contractor that used pretexting to scrutinise board members, HP said. Pretexting is the practice of one person masquerading as another to obtain private information such as phone records.

The technology giant acknowledged on Thursday that the phone records of nine reporters were accessed, including three from silicon.com sister site CNET News.com.

Dunn has said she did not know private investigators hired by the computer maker had used questionable tactics to access private phone records of board directors and journalists.

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Thomas Perkins, who quit HP's board in May over how the board conducted the probe, said on Saturday that Dunn should resign her position.

Perkins said in a statement: "I acted not from any ill will toward Ms Dunn but to protect the best interests of HP. I think the past months and days have shown that those interests are best served if Ms Dunn would resign from the board."

Dunn has no plans to resign, she said. "If the board wants me to resign, I will absolutely accept their judgment on this," she said. "I have full confidence that if they ask me to, it'll be the right thing to do for shareholders."

HP's privacy policy says it obtains personal information by "lawful and fair means". HP's official Standards of Business Conduct says HP conducts business "fairly, legally and with integrity", and lists theft and records falsification as misconduct that can result in termination of employment.

The probe has sparked an inquiry by California's attorney general that could result in criminal liability for identity theft and illegally accessing database information.

Steven Musil writes for CNET News.com