Less Pretext?

It seems HP (and others) may soon have less pretext, since Congress just passed a law to criminalize pretexting:

"Stealing someone's private phone records is a criminal act that can now be prosecuted," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lead sponsor of the proposal in the Senate. "Phone information and call logs should be protected with the same safeguards as financial data or medical records."

The issue became big news late last summer following revelations that investigators working for executives at Hewlett-Packard Co. used deception to obtain phone numbers of board members and reporters in an effort to track down news leaks.

Senate Approves Anti-Pretexting Bill, By JOHN DUNBAR, The Associated Press, Saturday, December 9, 2006; 5:17 AM

Three or four months is pretty quick for Congress. Let's hope not so quick but that they took time to study the problem and to write a law that will actually do some good. As seen with other laws passed after corporate malfeasance, hastily written laws can produce as many problems as they help solve.

-jsq

Comments

[Jon H]

The total absense of professional reputation managment "at the table" at HP led to the disastrous spying scandal. Where was the head of PR when HP most needed reputational counsel (i.e, before the mess, not as the cleanup crew)? Nowhere near the action. See http://jon8332.typepad.com/force_for_good/