Chris Dodd: “most of us are aware that there is a very serious computer problem, the year 2000 computer problem or Y2K problem, which…”

“most of us are aware that there is a very serious computer problem, the year 2000 computer problem or Y2K problem, which has the potential to dramatically disrupt our energy, transportation, banking and health sectors, just to name a few. As most of you know, the year 2000 computer technology problem stems from the earlier programing of two digit date codes; many old programs were written assuming the year would begin with ``19.'' Therefore the year-2000 computer problem means that if an unknown number of programs and microchips around the world aren't fixed or replaced, computers that read ``00'' as the year 1900, not 2000 will fail or malfunction on January 1, 2000. To correct this problem millions of dollars have been earmarked by government and industry to identify, correct and test the millions of lines of code and embedded chips that perform mission-critical functions. Senator Bennett and I co-chair the Senate's Year 2000 Committee and we are actively reviewing the progress of U.S. industry and government agencies. Both must bring their own systems into compliance and the government agencies must monitor the compliance status of the areas that they regulate. This is truly a world-wide phenomenon, and while the United States is doing a pretty good job of playing catch up, many nations of the world have hardly begun to address their own year 2000 or Y2K problems.”