comp.risks -- Y2K correction at IRS threatens 1,000 taxpayers
----------------------------------------------------------------- RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Monday 26 January 1998 Volume 19 : Issue 57
FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks) ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator -----------------------------------------------------------------
Y2K correction at IRS threatens 1,000 taxpayers (Mich Kabay)
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 09:01:53 -0500 From: "Mich Kabay [ICSA]" <Mich_Kabay@compuserve.com> Subject: Y2K correction at IRS threatens 1,000 taxpayers
From the Associated Press newswire via CompuServe's Executive News Service
IRS-Year 2000 (AP US & World, 23 Jan 1998) By Rob Wells, AP Tax Writer, from Washington
The IRS uncovered an unintended side effect of its effort to eliminate the Year 2000 computer bug: About 1,000 taxpayers who were current in their tax installment agreements were suddenly declared in default due to a programming error.
Rob Wells makes the following key points:
* IRS found and corrected the bug. * There are 62 million lines of source code to check. * The error was caused by an attempted Y2K fix.
M. E. Kabay, PhD, CISSP (Kirkland, QC), Director of Education, International Computer Security Association (Carlisle, PA) <http://www.icsa.net> |