Y2K experts: Be candid, but careful, discussing status with the press

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(Online News, 11/15/99 12:07 PM) Y2K experts: Be candid, but careful, discussing status with the press

By Thomas Hoffman

NEW YORK -- When the century date change occurs 46 days from now, organizations should be candid in articulating their status with the press.

But they should also make sure they have gotten to the root of any glitches that may occur on Jan. 1 and not automatically assume that those problems are year 2000-related, said experts at a conference here Friday.

"We [shouldn't try] to keep up with CNN. The first information [that's reported about a rumor] is usually wrong," said John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion. His group, which will compile Y2K "health checks" on New Year's Day from financial services, retail and other industries, will "need to have two to three hours to evaluate problems and discuss them with industry experts" before posting information about the nature of those glitches on its Web site, Koskinen added. He was the keynote speaker at the Securities Industry Association's Year 2000 Transition conference.

If there are problems to report, said Koskinen, "we have an obligation to tell people about them and how they're being dealt with."

Several executives here emphasized the importance of permitting only media-approved spokespersons to field questions from the press on any Y2K-related questions that come up over the transition weekend. "A well-thought-out plan to communicate with the public and the media is essential," said Arthur L. Thomas, senior vice president of global operations at Merrill Lynch & Co. in Jersey City, N.J., and chairman of the Securities Industry Association's year 2000 steering committee. That approach should help to stamp out any wild rumors that may surface.

"Cooler heads prevail. If an issue occurs, don't assume it's a Y2K problem," said David Brooks, vice president of global operations services at Merrill Lynch & Co. in Jersey City, N.J.

Even if a major brokerage experiences Y2K-related transaction-processing problems on the first day of trading (Jan. 3), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) "is not going to give out" company-specific information, said Sheila Slevin, assistant director of the SEC's division of market regulation.

Still, if publicly held companies do experience any problems during the first week of trading, major news organizations plan to expose those problems, whether or not they have been certified as Y2K-related glitches. For example, if a rumor surfaces about operational problems at a dot-com company, "our first action is to talk to the company and confirm it," said Stephen Jukes, editor of Reuters America in Washington. But if the rumor is "moving the market," says Jukes, "then we have [a responsibility] to report on that."

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Tminus46&counting.down), November 15, 1999

Answers

Orchestrating the Spin!

-- Irving (irvingf@myremarq.com), November 15, 1999.

Those who can distinguish spin from truth cannot be manipulated.

-- Paula Gordon (pgordon@erols.com), November 16, 1999.

We *hope* Paula.

Diane, shaking head... muttering

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 16, 1999.


More on how Y2K reporting will be handled at the rollover:

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19991115/tc/y2k_crisis_center_1.html

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Monday November 15 4:43 PM ET

Gov't Opens $50M Y2K Crisis Center

By TED BRIDIS Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government offered the first public glimpse Monday of its new $50 million Y2K nerve center, a highly computerized crisis room near the White House designed to track failures worldwide caused by the Year 2000 technology problem.

President Clinton's top Y2K adviser, John Koskinen, said the administration continues to believe there will be no major national problems, but said its Information Coordination Center will watch for ``some glitches'' anticipated during the New Year's date rollover.

``We hope that night will be really boring,'' said Koskinen, standing before a glass-empaneled room filled with high-end computers and digital maps showing global time zones. He called it ``the one place in the world with the most complete information.''

The government Monday also began cautioning against panic as people discover problems during the New Year's weekend, since some non-Y2K computer failures might simply coincide with the date rollover.

``We'll have failures from time to time whether you have a century date change or not,'' said Skip Patterson, who runs the Year 2000 program for Bell Atlantic Corp (NYSE:BEL - news). Experts have previously warned of widespread phone outages if everyone tried to make a call around midnight - what Koskinen described as ``Mother's Day by multiples.''

Nationwide almost every day, for example, some Internet sites crash, electricity temporarily fails or airline flights are delayed. In the earliest hours of Jan. 1, no one may know whether problems were caused by the Y2K bug or something else.

``The presumption is to blame all failures on Y2K that weekend,'' Koskinen said.

About 10 percent of all credit transactions fail routinely because, for example, equipment breaks down or because consumers are overextended or forget their ATM password, said Paul Schmelzer, an executive vice president for Orlando, Fla.-based Star Systems Inc., which process about 2 billion financial transactions annually.

He expects those same problems to show up Jan. 1.

``What consumers need to do if they go to an ATM on New Year's Day and find for whatever reason they can't get service, they should do what they do today - go find a machine down the block or get cash back in the grocery store,'' Schmelzer said. ``Let's don't immediately assume we've got some serious Y2K problems.''

The government's Y2K crisis center is hardly a bunker - it's on the 10th floor of a downtown building just blocks from the White House - but it includes backup communications systems and entrance guards.

Reports of any problems - rated ``minor'' or ``significant'' - will be shared with the White House and top government officials who will decide what to do. Information overseas will be fed by the State and Defense departments and industry groups, starting at roughly 6 a.m. EST Dec. 31, when midnight falls worldwide first in New Zealand.

A flurry of activity is expected as midnight arrives across U.S. time zones, with more attention starting mid-day EST Jan. 2 as employees worldwide begin returning to their offices - and turning on their computers - for the first time since the date change.

Koskinen predicted that any hacker attacks could be more easily detected during the date rollover because computers will be so closely monitored.

A hacker calling himself ``Comdext0r'' vandalized a Web site at the Commerce Department late Sunday, warning people to ``run for your lives!'' and to ``hit your computer's power button and never, ever turn it on again'' because of the Y2K bug.

A spokesman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the government agency that handles high-tech policies, said its Internet site was altered about 9 p.m. Sunday but repaired about one hour later.

Koskinen noted that recreational hackers typically vandalize Web sites to demonstrate some vulnerability that a computer administrator failed to fix. He said he was hopeful hackers wouldn't try such demonstrations during the weekend date change.

``We think they will understand this is not the best time to do that,'' Koskinen said. 

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), November 16, 1999.


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