Hewlett-Packard has admitted that private investigators hired by its board had acquired the phone records of several journalists in an attempt to find a suspected boardroom leaker, the Financial Times reported Friday.
Hewlett-Packard declined to reveal the number of journalists who had been caught up in the probe, adding it was cooperating with the California Attorney General's office, the FT reported.
The newspaper quoted an HP spokesman as saying, "We are absolutely horrified that the records of journalists were accessed without their authorization."
Nine journalists' phone records were obtained by Hewlett-Packard during their investigation into the board leak, according to various news reports.
The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site that reporter Pui-Wing Tam was targeted after publishing a story in January 2005 that the HP's board of directors was concerned about the leadership of then Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina.
The phone records of two CNET News.com reporters -- Dawn Kawamoto and Tom Krazit -- were also obtained by Hewlett-Packard, as well as the New York Times' John Markoff, according to various news reports.
"HP is dismayed that the phone records of journalists were accessed without their knowledge," a company spokesman, Michael Moeller, told the Times.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Wednesday his office is investigating whether HP broke any laws when investigators working on the company's behalf gave false identities to obtain calling records from phone companies.
HP said those investigators, working for a subcontractor, were attempting to obtain phone records as part of an HP probe into media leaks dating back to at least 2005
