Rec'd by email today....

January 7, 2000

Contact: Stephen M. Apatow President, Humanitarian Resource Institute Eastern USA: (203) 668-0282 Western USA: (775) 884-4680 Internet: http://www.humanitarian.net Email: sma@humanitarian.net

CONCERNS BEGIN OVER CORPORATE AND GOVERNMENTAL DECISIONS TO LIMIT INFORMATION FLOW REGARDING Y2K TECHNOLOGY PROBLEMS & FAILURES

With the fear of creating a feeling of uneasiness among clients, investors and citizens, many U.S. and international corporations as well as government agencies are making unusual efforts to keep any internal news from leaking regarding the public relations nightmare of Y2K compliance. In the light of this reality, concerns arise as to the communication of information that is crucial to the planning of initiatives that relate to public safety or humanitarian concerns.

A recent report from the Center for Y2K & Society, Impact Monitoring Web Site (http://www.y2kcenter.org/resources/glitches/index.html) read:

Credit Card Processing Company Could Be First Major Multi-system Y2K Failure:

"The GICC has learned through 3 separate unnamed sources that a prominent credit card billing and processing company has incurred Y2K errors that are causing multi-system data error ramifications. Apparently, as many as 40,000 POS merchants may be affected, and as many as 150,000 credit card transactions may be involved. The problem, in part, seems to be that accounts are being double-billed after the initial credit purchase, then billed once per day after that." -- Jennifer Bunker, Governors Coalition for Y2K Preparedness, Salt Lake City, Utah -- Grassroots Information Coordination Center

The following response was submitted by Leon A. Kappelman, Ph.D. Co-chair, Society for Info. Management Y2K Working Group Steering Committee, YES Volunteer Corps:

"The computers of one of the largest point of sale credit card approval companies are posting transactions multiple times to credit card accounts. My information is that the President's Council and the Federal Reserve has decided not to make any public statement about this since it is a "private sector problem" although the banks wanted them to do so. Bottom line, watch your credit card bills and if you can do so to avoid using your credit card until this is fixed -- It shouldn't be long as I understand that the patch is available for download to the POS terminals and the media is already on to the story."

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL FOR MEDIA REPORTS

In an effort to enhance the flow of legitimate Y2K problem reports which are crucial to facilitating an appropriate humanitarian response by the international community, Humanitarian Resource Institute is requesting increased reporting and submissions of articles/links to y2kreports@humanitarian.net

Reports will be accessible on the Year 2000 Technology Challenges Report Web Site: http://www.humanitarian.net/challenges.html

-- LZach (lisa@texasnetworks.com), January 07, 2000

Answers

[ Fair Use: For Education/Research Purposes Only ]

Jan 7, 2000 - 02:56 PM

Y2K Glitch Prompts Duplicate Credit Card Charges

NEW YORK (AP) - Buyers beware: Your credit card might get charged more than once because some merchants failed to update their computer software for the year 2000.

Visa and Mastercard said Friday they have checks in place to catch duplicate charges, but they suggested that customers review their credit card statements anyhow. They added that the vast majority of transactions are going through without problems.

The culprit is IC Verify software from CyberCash, which makes electronic transaction processing software. About 100,000 merchants use the software. The company offered free fixes last year, but some merchants didn't get them.

As a result, merchants using the outdated software are charging customers over and over for the same purchase. For example, a customer's credit card gets charged $400 Monday for a new TV purchased that day. The card is again charged $400 on Tuesday, another $400 on Wednesday, and so on, until the software is fixed.

The Y2K bug usually stems from a programming practice of using only two digits to represent the year, so "00" might be misread as 1900. In this case, though, the problem occurs because of the way the software names its files.

The software keeps monthly records using the last digit of the year, "0," followed by the month, "01." However, "001" corresponds with another file that contains charges not yet posted. So when the software adds up payments at the end of each day, it wrongly interprets items in the monthly paid file as outstanding charges.

CyberCash spokeswoman Sydney Rubin said many merchants made the upgrades, but CyberCash received a flood of calls late this week from merchants who still need them.

The problem came to light late Wednesday when credit card processors began noticing unusual charges.

Smaller businesses were among the least prepared for Y2K. The National Federation of Independent Business had estimated that up to 1.5 million small employers did no Y2K preparation.

Linda Locke, a Mastercard spokeswoman, said banks usually catch the duplicated transactions and reverse them. Customers should contact the bank that issued the credit card for any problems, she said.

Visa spokeswoman Rosetta Jones said the number of duplicate charges were in the thousands, out of 100 million transactions each day.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), January 07, 2000.

i have been looking at the emergency management sites (i am still running the y2k govt hotline so we have time on our hands) and it seems like many of them took their databases off line for the rollover.

I ALSO THINK IT IS RATHER INTERESTING THAT THE EPA LET THE CHEMICAL REPORTING DATABASE GO DORMANT BECAUSE IT WAS NOT Y2K COMPLIANT. HOW CLEVER.

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), January 07, 2000.

Ashton and Leska - good to see you back.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), January 07, 2000.

bw 'n all, hi! We've been lurking all along, in between finally getting some sleep, meeting with Yourdynamites, still finishing some bigger prep projects, posting a bit, and mostly rejoicing in this miraculous Rebirth of Normalcy! Happy New Year to all our amazing friends :-)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), January 07, 2000.

I swore off credit cards for the duration. Makes me real happy that all my transactions in the past month have been cash, checks and money orders only!

-- Powder (Powder47keg@aol.com), January 07, 2000.

Sheesh, people, GET A GRIP!!!

This is NOT a "Y2K problem", it's a simple FILE NAMING problem!

I swear, you paranoids just don't know when to give it a rest.

(How'd I do? Can I pass for a polly? [bseg])

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), January 07, 2000.

It's starting to get reported on the Nationals. AP Story Intended for ed use only.

Story Filed: Friday, January 07, 2000 3:51 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) -- Buyers beware: Your credit card might get charged more than once because some merchants failed to update their computer software for the Year 2000.

Visa and Mastercard said Friday they have checks in place to catch duplicate charges, but they suggest that customers review their credit card statements anyhow. A vast majority of transactions are going through without problems, they added.

The problem is being caused by outdated IC Verify software from CyberCash, which makes electronic transaction processing software. The company offered free fixes last year, but some merchants didn't get them.

As a result, merchants using IC Verify are charging customers daily for the same purchase. For example, a customer's credit card gets charged $400 Monday for a new color TV purchased that day. The card is again charged $400 on Tuesday, another $400 on Wednesday, and so on, until the software is fixed.

About 100,000 merchants use IC Verify. CyberCash spokeswoman Sydney Rubin said ``a significant number'' made the proper upgrades before the new year, though CyberCash received a flood of calls late this week from merchants still needing updates.

The problem came to light late Wednesday when credit card processors began noticing unusual charges.

Jack Gribben, a spokesman for President Clinton's Y2K advisory council, said problems appear to affect mostly smaller retail merchants, because major chains generally use their own software.

Smaller businesses were among the least prepared for Y2K. The National Federation of Independent Business had estimated that up to 1.5 million small employers did no Y2K preparation.

Linda Locke, a Mastercard spokeswoman, said duplicate transactions ``crop up from time to time, and in nearly all cases banks are able to catch them ahead of time and reverse them.''

If customers notice any problems, she said, they should contact the bank that issued the credit card.

Visa spokeswoman Rosetta Jones said the number of duplicate charges were in the thousands, out of 100 million transactions each day.

The Y2K bug generally stems from a programming practice of using only two digits to represent the year, so ''00'' might be misread as 1900. In this case, though, the problem occurs because of the way the software names its files.

The software keeps monthly records using the last digit of the year, ''0,'' followed by the month, ''01.'' However, ''001'' corresponds with another file that contains charges not yet posted. So when the software tabulates payments at the end of each day, it wrongly interprets items in the monthly paid file as outstanding charges.

Shares of Cybercash dropped 18 3/4 cents to $8.75 in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

-- finally (real@news.com), January 07, 2000.

Eh --

Your post is timed very well with the MSNBC report on DOE Sec. Richardson's discussions of the "stressing" "erosion" and "instabiltiy" of the grid. We'll see what pans out.

>"<

-- (squirrel@fishr.com), January 07, 2000.

Meanwell back on the thread:

At one of the offices I consult at the owner paid by CC for two domain names and his account was charged 9 times for the same amount. The bank caught the errors and held up payments.

-- Opus (Opus@Bloomcounty.net), January 07, 2000.

Damn...where's Hoff...I need a spitoon.

-- Told ya so Hoffmeister (@ .), January 07, 2000.

It is starting to become apparent that the gov't has taken extraordinary steps to 1)get pass the rollover 2)to kept the power on and 3)safeguard the banking systems.From the postings I have read concerning the power grid I have reached the conclusion that the national grid was shutdown before the rollover and has been broken into much smaller more manageable units.Just saw the disclosure today about the stoppage of ALL international money transactions,including BIS of Switzerland.Now the disclosure concerning a gag order between the gov't,and big business.I would like the forum thoughts on this. thanks,

-- paul mika (tigerpm@netscape.com), January 07, 2000.

Paul, your paragraph tracks exactly along the lines of my own thinking. Soooo many indications of possible dirty power, the cheif among them to my amateur mind is that O'Hare was running on a geeny at rollover, and on Monday when the ATC system crashed, and was backed up by another genny. I chew the cud on these things for hours every day .... and then always conclude the interior monologue with that voice objecting: that the power is on in Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, and everywhere, so far as we know. Etc.

I'm at a loss, frankly. Everything looks "too good".

-- (squirrel@huntr.com), January 07, 2000.

A & L: Hiya again folks--would you believe my sweetie STILL bugs me about my screwup with you (remember...) LOL!

Ron Schwarz: "this is NOT crow" -munch munch- "this is not crow" - munch munch- I'M STILL LAUGHING!

All:

Here's a little thought for you to (please) tear apart:

What gives? Money wasnt spent in a lot of nations, yet few reports of failures appear

- Y2K a hoax? No, as systems deliberately not repaired failed. - Y2K overhypeda non-event? Possible, but not probable, as governments, contract computer experts and scores of scientists, systems specialists and strategic thinkers believed the Y2K problem was realthough they disagreed about the impacts and effects. - Y2K impacts not complete? Probable, as reports continue to come in usually through unconventional (non-mainstream media) sources. - Y2K impact media coverup? Highly improbable, as western nations dont function in secrecy. Silence from communist statesthose who spent the least on y2k remediationcould mean a coverup. - Y2K impact govt/corporate coverup? Quite probable, given the propensity of corporations to decline giving the SEC informationeven when required by lawor the axiomatic philosophy of many governments to withold information from their citizens, for whatever reason seems applicable. - Y2K impact minimized? Probable, as the mainstream media is well- known for its short memory and bias on subjects it does not support like the recent discovery that the mainstream media was deliberately biasing reports on gun control in favour of the anti-gun lobby.

I think that all Y2K impacts have not yet arrived

-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), January 07, 2000.