Engineering Ethics

Chapter 9

1999: Y2K Software

Conversion

109

THE REPORTED STORY

The New York Times Abstract:

Every major computer company is gearing up to cope with any problems

that emerge as dates flip over to 2000 in millions of machines at midnight—

first in Asia, then Europe, then the Americas; but IBM and Microsoft probably

have the most at stake in terms of reputation, and potential liability; they have

highest profile on issue, though for very different reasons; IBM introduced

computing to corporations and governments in 1960’s, and origins of Year 2000

problem—storage-saving convention of dropping first two numbers in dates

of years—date back to mainframe era; and an estimated 70 percent of world’s

business data still resides on mainframe computers, most of them IBM

machines; as dominant technology company of personal computer era,

Microsoft is lightning rod for concern about Year 2000 problem partly because

its Windows desktop is face of computing to most users. (Lohr, 1999)

THE BACK STORY

THE MILLENNIUM BUG

The millennium bug, also referred to as the year 2000 or Y2K problem,

resulted from computer programming practices dating back to around 1960.

When programmers used dates, they shortened years to a two-digit form to

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110 Engineering Ethics: An Industrial Perspective

save memory space. Although the cost of memory dropped substantially

over the years, the convention of using the two-digit format (i.e., “60,” rather

than 1960) did not change until recently.

The rollover problem occurs when a computer program attempts to

read the date “00,” which could mean 1900 or 2000. If the year is read as

“1900,” unpredictable computer behavior may occur, which at worst could

trigger a complete shutdown. Computers and other devices that are

susceptible to this behavior were deployed in the utilities, health care,

telecommunications, transportation, financial institutions, government,

and general business sectors. The problem could occur in software, hard-

ware, or data communication. The bug needed to be fixed for each

individual case. Because the United States possesses one fourth of the

world’s computer assets, these fixes were not trivial.

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE YEAR 2000 TECHNOLOGY

P

ROBLEM

On April 2, 1998, the U.S. Senate unanimously voted to establish a new

committee to address the year 2000 technology problem. Senator Bob

Bennett was appointed chairman of this committee of seven senators.

Bennett had been involved with the Y2K issue since assuming chairmanship

of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Services and Technology

the previous year. He had authored the Computer Remediation and Share

Holder (CRASH) Protection Act, which required all publicly traded compa-

nies to fully disclose all details on their efforts to meet year 2000 readiness

goals. On introduction of the Bennett bill, the Securities and Exchange

Commission (SEC) issued a new legal bulletin requiring full disclosure by

corporations.

This committee was created to study the impact of Y2K computer

problems on the executive and judicial branches of the federal government,

state governments, and private sector operations in the United States and

abroad. After analysis, it would make recommendations for new legislation,

amendments to existing laws, or administrative actions. Its existence was

authorized through February 29, 2000 (United States Senate, 1998).

INTERIM ASSESSMENTS

After its establishment, the Committee held nine hearings by February

1999 on seven critical economic sectors: financial institutions, telecommunica-

tions, utilities, health care, transportation, government, and general business.

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