Dunn first joined HP’s board in 1998 and took over the chairmanship in 2005, succeeding ousted CEO Carly Fiorina. Dunn sought to rein in a board with a reputation for leaks to reporters.

In early 2005, following a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal about discussions held at a special HP off-site strategy meeting that included details known only to directors, she sought to get to the bottom of the leaks and discover who among HP’s directors was talking to reporters.

In 2005 Dunn hired private investigators, and some of them used a method called pretexting, in which someone impersonates the owner of a cellphone in order to get access to billing records. Not only were HP directors targeted by the effort, but also journalists for The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek Magazine and CNet News who covered HP. The technique proved illegal, though she later testified to Congress that she had believed the investigators had used only legal methods to get the information.

Dunn’s role in the scandal led to felony criminal charges pressed by California’s then attorney general, Bill Lockyer, for wire fraud, unauthorized use of computer data, identity theft and conspiracy. She was one of four charged. Offered a chance to plead guilty to misdemeanor, she opted instead to fight the charges and was determined to clear her name, despite the fact that she was about to undergo chemotherapy treatment. A judge finally threw out the charges in 2007.

The controversy and criminal charges led her to resign her seat as HP chairman on Sept. 26, 2006, and she was replaced by Hurd, who served in that role until his resignation last year.

Update: HP just sent the following statement:

Pattie Dunn worked tirelessly for the good of HP. We are saddened by the news of her passing, and our thoughts go out to her family on their loss.

Dunn’s written testimony to a House Committee on the scandal is below, via Scribd.

09282006 Testimony Dunn

Back in 2006, one of the most dramatic moments of the “pretexting” scandal at Hewlett-Packard was when a very high-profile board member — legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tom Perkins — quit in indignation over the company’s efforts to obtain the phone records of reporters.

“I resigned solely to protest the questionable ethics and the dubious legality of the chairman’s methods,” he said at the time about HP’s sneaky indiscretions, which included spying on a journalist from The Wall Street Journal.

But yesterday, in an interview with the New York Times, Perkins sounded a very different tone as a current independent board member of News Corp., which owns the Journal (and this site too) and, more importantly, is knee-deep in its own phone-hacking disaster.

Noting that the directors are “fully supportive of the top management,” Perkins added: “There’s no reason to believe top management was lying. That’s my very strong belief.”

Ironic? You bet, but apparently not to Perkins.

“This is not like the HP situation,” he told the Times. “The board supports top management.”

Yesterday a group of journalists whose personal phone records were scrutinized by investigators working for H-P as part of the investigation sued the company, its former chairwoman Patricia Dunn, and former ethics chief Kevin Hunsaker. Bringing suit against the company in separate legal filings were CNET reporters Dawn Kawamoto, Stephen Shankland and Thomas Krazit, and Associated Press reporter Rachel Konrad. Each seeks damages for “illegal and reprehensible conduct” and invasion of privacy. “Defendants conspired to and intentionally intruded into the plaintiffs solitude and private affairs,” the reporters allege, claiming a company hired by H-P used a controversial technique called “pretexting” to obtain their personal phone records. Pretexting is an illegal method of obtaining personal records through misrepresentation of someone’s identity.

HP, for its part, reiterated its regret over the affair, noting it had apologized to the people affected. “As we have said since last fall, H-P regrets these events, and we have apologized individually to those who were affected,” said Ryan Donovan, an H-P spokesman. “In an attempt to resolve this matter short of litigation, H-P made a substantial settlement offer to the reporters, their family members and a charity of their choice. Unfortunately, rather than respond to the offer, they have decided to sue. HP is disappointed by their decision and will defend itself.”

A tough break for H-P, which has suffered untold damage to its once storied reputation, sadly now just a storybook legend penned by H-P founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard.

Yesterday a group of journalists whose personal phone records were scrutinized by investigators working for H-P as part of the investigation sued the company, its former chairwoman Patricia Dunn, and former ethics chief Kevin Hunsaker. Bringing suit against the company in separate legal filings were CNET reporters Dawn Kawamoto, Stephen Shankland and Thomas Krazit, and Associated Press reporter Rachel Konrad. Each seeks damages for “illegal and reprehensible conduct” and invasion of privacy. “Defendants conspired to and intentionally intruded into the plaintiffs solitude and private affairs,” the reporters allege, claiming a company hired by H-P used a controversial technique called “pretexting” to obtain their personal phone records. Pretexting is an illegal method of obtaining personal records through misrepresentation of someone’s identity.

HP, for its part, reiterated its regret over the affair, noting it had apologized to the people affected. “As we have said since last fall, H-P regrets these events, and we have apologized individually to those who were affected,” said Ryan Donovan, an H-P spokesman. “In an attempt to resolve this matter short of litigation, H-P made a substantial settlement offer to the reporters, their family members and a charity of their choice. Unfortunately, rather than respond to the offer, they have decided to sue. HP is disappointed by their decision and will defend itself.”

A tough break for H-P, which has suffered untold damage to its once storied reputation, sadly now just a storybook legend penned by H-P founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard.