, 2006-09-19
Mark Rasch details the legality of pretexting by putting it in context with how it used, comparing it with legal forms of lying, and by looking at previous court cases involving pretexting in the United States. Hewlett Packard's use of pretexting also brings up potential charges of criminal fraud, violations of consumer protection laws, issues of deception, and the use of spyware. Together these issues make for a very interesting legal situation at HP.
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http://news.com.com/HP+targeted+reporters+before+they+publis
hed+-+page+2/2100-1014_3-6117497-2.html?tag=st.numan . . . an HP investigator posing as a tipster began e-mailing Kawamoto [the CNET reporter], starting with a Jan. 27 e-mail from a Hotmail account purporting to be from "Jacob Goldfarb," Kawamoto was told.
"I am a senior level executive with a high tech firm in the valley and an avid reader of your columns. My real name is not used, you might understand why," the bogus tipster wrote. "Not quite sure how to approach you on this, but I'll attempt anyway. In short, tired of broken promises, misguided initiatives and generally bad treatment. Have some information that I would be interested in passing along. Felt it might be appropriate to contact you."
A later e-mail from that same address included an attachment believed to have contained marketing information about a new HP product. That attachment, government investigators told Kawamoto, had the ability to track the e-mail, notify the sender if it was opened, tell the sender if the e-mail was forwarded, and what IP address to which it had been forwarded. Sending Kawamoto an attachment like that would not have been illegal, government investigators said.
So.. is such tracking software legal? Not sure.. any ideas?
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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/417/33922#33922