In the wake of new disclosures about his involvement with the investigations of fellow directors, HP CEO Mark Hurd is promising to "give as much clarity as we can to these matters" at a press conference tomorrow. The latest revelations describe a sting operation apparently approved by Hurd:

Dawn Kawamoto, a reporter for Cnet.com, wrote a fairly straightforward article on Jan. 23 outlining the firm's long-term strategy after a board retreat.

Determined to ferret out the source's identity, HP senior counsel Kevin Hunsaker, who led the HP investigation ordered by Dunn, and an HP colleague in Boston created a fictitious persona, "Jacob," who would pose as a disgruntled HP "senior level executive" and cultivate Kawamoto by saying he was "an avid reader of your columns."

The idea, evidently, was to induce Kawamoto to open an e-mail attachment with a "tracer" in it that would allow them to see who she forwarded it to. They hoped it would pinpoint board member Keyworth as her source, according to the documents.

Both Hurd and Dunn have been beating on the ethics drum to justify their investigation of the leaks. This is from Hurd:

The HP Standards of Business Conduct are our foundation of ethical leadership, and encompass the basic principles that govern our ethical and legal obligations to HP.

The leaking of company confidential information violates our Standards of Business conduct which applies to all employees and Board members.

The HP Standards of Business Conduct contains the following statements regarding privacy and employee misconduct:

HP is committed to protecting the personal information of its customers, channel partners, suppliers, other business partners and employees. Personal information includes data related to a person who can be identified or located by that data. To create an environment of trust and to comply with applicable local law, you are required to follow HP privacy policies and data protection practices in using online and offline systems, processes, products and services that involve the use, storage or transmission of any personal information....

Misconduct In general, misconduct is an illegal or harmful activity that involves or affects HP and its employees. Misconduct includes, among other things, violation of the provisions of these Standards of Business Conduct, theft, records falsification, involvement with unlawful drugs, unauthorized use of alcohol, violence, threats, harassment, possession of weapons and insubordination. If you engage in misconduct, you are subject to immediate termination of employment.

Luckily for Hurd, the privacy policy does not extend to directors or reporters.

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