Federal prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Energy and Commerce have also begun investigating the tactics used by the third-party investigators employed by HP.

"We have been informally contacted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California requesting information similar to that sought by the California Attorney General," the company said in its quarterly financial report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), published on Monday. "We are cooperating fully with these inquiries."

In a letter to HP dated Monday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce requested that the technology giant provide information regarding the name of the outside firm that investigated the board leaks, the appropriate contracts for the work, and the names of any contractors hired by that firm to do additional investigative work. The Committee also requested a list of all individuals targeted by the investigation, any HP employees that aided the investigations and copies of any reports produced by the investigators.

The Committee, which has had hearings on the used of pretexting, voiced concern over the matter.

"The Committee is troubled by this information, particularly given that it involves HP--one of America's corporate icons--using pretexting and data brokers to procure the personal telephone records of the members of its Board of Directors and of other individuals without their knowledge or consent," stated the letter, which was signed by its Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, and three other members.

Telecommunications giant AT&T has shown its resolve to hunt down pretexters that hack into its systems.

The company filed two civil lawsuits in the past two weeks against pretexters using the federal computer crime provisions known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. The company is searching for the identities of nine individuals who used unauthorized accessed to AT&T systems to obtain phone records. The lawsuit does not target any of the three e-mail addresses so far revealed in the fallout from the HP board scandal, and an AT&T spokesman declined to talk about the company's investigation into that case.

"By and large, it was unauthorized access online--we believe it's illegal," said Walt Sharp, spokesman for the San Antonio-based telecommunications giant. "These are not public records. They are AT&T business records. These lawsuits are designed to identify who the perpetrators are and to seek injunctions to stop their behaviors and seek damages against them."

The lawsuits, filed in Texas and California, name nine e-mail addresses used by individuals who accessed AT&T's systems without authorization: brnroton@yahoo.com, carebear@yahoo.com, fashizzol@juno.com, free@yahoo.com, freefalling04@yahoo.com, gogo@hotmail.com, holla@aol.com, hon@aol.com, and wealthysinner@yahoo.com. To date, three e-mail addresses have been revealed in conjunction with the unauthorized computer access to the phone records of reporters and directors under investigation by HP's chairwoman Dunn: mike@yahoo.com, redsox9855@yahoo.com, and red@yahoo.com.

Hewlett-Packard's board of directors had met for a second time on Monday to discuss the company's response to the mounting criticism--and rising legal ramifications--of the tactics used during the hunt for a director who leaked sensitive company information to the media. The company announced that the chairwoman would resign in January, but remain on the board. While the punishment for the board's leader that initiated and spearheaded the investigation may seem light, HP's CEO Hurd strongly stated that the investigative techniques were unacceptable.

"I am taking action to ensure that the inappropriate investigative techniques will not be employed again. They have no place in HP," Hurd said in the HP statement announcing Chairwoman Dunn's pending resignation.