Spies in the newsroom for H-P?

Hewlett-Packard Corp., under fire for obtaining the phone records of journalists and board members in an attempt to discover a leak within the company, apparently examined placing spies in newsrooms, according to a New York Times article on Wednesday.

Damon Darlin and Kurt Eichenwald wrote, “The studies, referred to in a Feb. 2 draft report for a briefing of senior management, are said to have included the possibility of placing investigators acting as clerical employees or cleaning crews in the San Francisco offices of CNET and The Wall Street Journal.

It is not clear whether the plan described in the documents, which were read to a reporter, was ever acted upon.

The report was sent on Feb. 1 by Anthony R. Gentilucci, Hewlett-Packard’s Boston-based manager of global investigations, to four others, including Kevin T. Hunsaker, a senior counsel in Hewlett-Packard’s legal department and the company’s chief ethics officer.

“‘Feasibility studies are in progress for undercover operations (clerical) in CNET and WSJ offices in SF bureaus,’ the memo said, referring to two publications in which reports of the company’s board discussions had appeared.”

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