AOL System Crash

* In reply to your Aug. 9 editorial, “America Goes Offline”: It is the height of absurdity and a total lack of technical understanding to suggest that there should be a government agency “to oversee the dilemmas raised by new information technologies.”

America Online is a public corporation selling a particular service for a price. There are many companies that provide alternative services (i.e., higher security) for different prices. If the public decides the service AOL provides is not competitive they will select other solutions.

The year 2000 problem may be a new one to The Times and certainly Analysts International Corp. may have a plan to provide a solution. I assure you, however, the problem definition is well-known in the industry and there are hundreds of companies, including every major public accounting firm, that have been offering solutions for a long time. Yes, there will be software problems on Jan. 1, 2000. A government agency would have done nothing to eliminate this fact. However, it is the responsibility of individual companies to act prudently to resolve the problem, just as they have to resolve any other business issue.

Get real; this is 1996, not 1936. Every problem The Times may stumble upon does not require a government solution.

STEPHEN J. KEANE

Laguna Hills