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What Is Y2K?

Welcome to the CPSR Y2K Working Group Homepage. This web site is provided by CPSR as a public service. CPSR believes that governments and organizations worldwide must immediately address the very serious threat posed to individuals, organizations, governments, and economies by the Year 2000 computer problem, a threat that could disrupt our economic and social systems.

We are pleased to announce the CPSR Winter Newsletter devoted to Y2K. It features articles from prominent scientists and fiction from Arthur C. Clarke

The Y2K Working Group uses this site to promote year 2000 awareness, mitigation, contingency planning, and preparedness. In particular, we seek to speak and act for the segments of society which do not have extensive resources or organized groups to speak for them. We seek to foster a sense of urgency at all levels local, national and global, while helping the public and the media understand and prepare for the impact of the Y2k problem.

Finally, we urge government and business leaders to step up to this challenge and provide leadership, education, and prevention.

Please see our documents on Embedded Systems and Synergistic Mitigation and Contingency Preparation (offsite).

See also our Correspondence with the New York Times.

Our Y2K Survival Guide is designed to be useful to small business, local government and individuals, and it features the CPSR Introduction To Disaster Recovery Planning, the CPSR Year 2000 Action Plan, and the CPSR Guide To Picking A Consultant.

You may wish to volunteer to help us. Comments and ongoing discussions may be found in our Y2K forum.

What Is Y2K?

In the early years of computers, data storage space was at a premium, and to save space the date was written using two digits to represent the year. For example, the character string '63' would be used to represent 1963. Many of the older computer systems which remain in use today still have the two-digit date code. The problem arises when an older computer system tries to use the year 2000 date because it thinks the date is 1900, not 2000. This misreading can potentially cause serious problems, the extent and scope of which are not fully understood.

See our Frequently Asked Questions for a fuller look at the problem.

UPDATES

1999-04-10

• NEW CPSR Winter Newsletter devoted to Y2K.

• NEW Dave Hall's Discussion Area.
• American Red Cross individual preparation guide.