Venture capitalist and bon vivant Thomas Perkins is one of the long-time stars of Silicon Valley, but he gained a different kind of noteriety last year when he went to war with then Hewlett Packard Chairman of the Board, Patrica Dunn.

Perkins, an HP director, was fingered (incorrectly) by Dunn as the mole in what became known as the Kona II investigation of HP employees and the journalists with which they may have sharing company secrets. Dunn initiated the investigation, with famed Cali counsel Wilson Sonsini at her side, employing several independent private investigators - all in an attempt to shut down the leaks she felt were plaguing the company.

As has been widely reported, the investigation went well beyond what was advisable or legal and led to a major conflagration in the press as well as state and national legislatures over the issue of phone record privacy and the investigative tactic known as pretexting. Dunn herself, along with HP's general counsel, was a casualty of all this attention, losing her chairmanship and eventually resigning from the HP board.

The Times of London has run an excerpt from Tom Perkins autobiography, Valley Boy, which describes his first person reaction to the Dunn investigation and the thought process behind his subsequent resignation from the HP board. Really good stuff...

-- MDT

Labels: HP, Kona II, Patricia Dunn, pretexing, Thomas Perkins