The ousted chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard Co. told a House subcommittee today that some of the tactics used by the computer giant in its surveillance scandal are employed by other American companies.

"I believe that these methods may, in fact, be quite common, not just at Hewlett-Packard but at companies around the country," said Patricia Dunn, who was fired by the company on Friday. "Every company has a security department. Every company of consequences has people who do detective-type work in order to ferret out the forces of nefarious activities."

House lawmakers are using the hearing on Capitol Hill to strongly denounce tactics that Hewlett-Packard used to secretly probe leaks about the company to the media.

This morning, 10 former Hewlett-Packard employees and outside contractors, including the ex-general counsel, refused to testify.