Loren Steffy  A business blog  Why pretext when you can have
immunity?  AP file photo  Said and Dunn: HP’s former chairman
before Congress in 2006  Remember the boardroom spying scandal
that rocked Hewlett-Packard in the fall of 2006? As the case
unfolded, former HP chairman Patricia Dunn and other company
executives testified before Congress about the company’s use of
“pretexting” to obtain phone records on HP directors and
reporters.  Apparently, Congress was taking notes.  Wrapped up
the political battle over the renewal of a federal surveillance
law is something that’s akin to pretexting. The Senate already
has approved a bill that would give telecom companies broad
immunity in turning over information about customers to the
government. It also gives them immunity from liability if they
participated in illegal wiretapping during the past five years.
All of this is being done under the auspices of fighting
terrorism, but, setting aside constitutional concerns, it’s also
part of a disturbing pattern. Our p