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Technology and the Internet

Internet Group Seeks Preview of Y2K Bug

By KAREN KAPLAN
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Many people are dreading New Year’s Day and the Y2K computer problems that may accompany it. But the Los Angeles chapter of the Internet Society--anxious to see what kind of chaos may result--is lobbying the world to turn the clocks in computers and other electronic devices ahead to 1/1/00 and get a sneak preview.

The group has designated Aug. 20-22 as “World-Wide Year 2000 Weekend,” or WWy2kW for short. When the clocks are returned to the correct date at the end of the weekend, computer experts will have four months left to fix the most challenging problems that turn up, said Mike Todd, one of the chapter’s founders.

The effort isn’t limited to computers in Los Angeles. In fact, Todd hopes to include “at least a few industries from each time zone” to make the test meaningful. He has already enlisted the help of the Asia-Pacific Internet Assn. Pindar Wong, chairman of that group, announced the WWy2kW effort last month at the Network-Interop ’99 conference in Tokyo. A Web site has also been launched at https://www.wwy2kw.org.

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Technology and the Internet
Karen Kaplan

Karen Kaplan covers science and medical research for the Los Angeles Times. She has been a member of the science team since 2005, including 13 years as an editor. Her first decade at The Times was spent covering technology in the Business section as both a reporter and editor. She grew up in San Diego and is a graduate of MIT and Columbia University.

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