HP Board Chairman Patricia Dunn is under fire.

    BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman Patricia Dunn tried Friday to defuse the uproar over a company-ordered inquiry into a boardroom leak that has led to a California state investigation, and said she has no plans to resign unless asked by the board.

    The company-ordered investigation relied on a potentially illegal ruse to obtain the personal phone records of her fellow directors and at least nine reporters with such publications as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Business Week magazine.

    California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has called the techniques used by Hewlett-Packard's investigators illegal and has opened an inquiry to determine who was responsible.

    To gain access to the phone records, HP's investigators masqueraded as the directors and reporters targeted in the inquiry, using their Social Security numbers in some instances to dupe phone companies into turning over lists of personal phone calls.

    In an interview, Dunn, describing the tactics as "absolutely appalling" and "embarrassing," 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.

    "Our board certainly had no idea" of the privacy breaches, Dunn said in an interview on Friday, adding, "This problem won't recur."

    Dunn authorized the investigation earlier this year to find out if any of the company's directors were leaking the board's information as several media stories quoted unnamed people about HP boardroom activity.

    The inquiry convinced HP that fellow board member George Keyworth was behind the leaks and withheld his renomination.

    In Friday's interview, Dunn branded the leaks as an "egregious breach" of HP's standards and emphasized the investigation was conducted with the full backing of the board. "This was not my spy campaign on our board."

    But despite the public uproar surrounding the scandal, Dunn said that she has no plans to resign and insisted that she still has the support of some fellow board members. Still, she added that she would step down if asked to do so by the board.

    "I serve at their pleasure," Dunn said.

    Hewlett-Packard's board plans to meet Sunday to discuss the fallout from the snooping. Enditem

(Agencies)