HP learns spying isn’t `socially responsible’
For
the first time in the seven-year history of the “Top 100 Corporate
Citizens” list, Hewlett-Packard didn’t make it.The list by Corporate
Responsibility Officer Magazine, at http://www.thecro.com, includes 15 Silicon
Valley companies that are ranked as socially responsible based on data
collected by KLD Research & Analytics.If you think about what the
pretexting scandal from last year cost HP, this is part of the fallout.
After all, spying on your own employees and journalists can’t be called
“socially responsible” in anybody’s book.Here’s what the list makers
said about HP: “Missing from the list and from the top 10 for the
first time ever is Hewlett-Packard. Like many companies on the list,
the Palo Alto, Calif., computer company has an impressive record in
giving to the community, creating a diverse, fair workplace and
actively protecting the environment. But last year, HP was charged with
using illegal methods known as “pretexting,” or pretending to be
someone else, to investigate leaks of information from the board of
directors. Patricia Dunn resigned as Chairman of the Board last
September in the wake of the scandal, and HP paid $14.5 million to
settle civil charges with the California Attorney General. The company
is still under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal
Communications Commission.”