The millennium bug was real – and 20 years later we face the same threats | Martyn Thomas

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The Y2K problem is now seen as a bit of a joke – but only a fool would be complacent about the vulnerability of IT systems

On New Year’s Eve 20 years ago, Scottish air traffic controllers called the emergency room in London to say their radar had failed as they could see no aircraft. The radar was actually working perfectly. All flights had been cancelled because of fears that planes or airports would fail at midnight because of the “millennium bug”. Around the world, plenty of other people were anxious too.

The first signs of this “Y2K problem” or the Year 2000 bug had appeared 12 years earlier in 1988 when a batch of tinned meat was rejected by a supermarket because it appeared to be more than 80 years past its use-by date. Four years later, Mary Bandar of Winona, Minnesota, was invited to join a kindergarten class because according to a computer she was four. Aged 104, she decided against.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/37iy814

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