"Philadelphia Courts Bug"
  12/15/1999

Think of a big city for a minute. As a matter of fact, think of Philadelphia for a second. Then think of bugs. Big cities and bugs kind of go hand-in-hand, don't they? Now, think of Philadelphia, bugs, and next year. What mess do you get with that combination? If Friday, Nov. 27, is any indicator, it's a major mess.

As millennium clocks tick off the days, hours, minutes, and seconds around the globe for the next couple of weeks, optimists are gambling for nothing serious to take place as Jan. 1, 2000 rings in. Pessimists, on the other hand, believe the worst trials of modern times may be at hand.

Computer experts around the world have been warning for more than two years, continually, about the seriousness the Year 2000 (Y2K) bug poses. Basically, it's a technological glitch in older IBM and IBM-clone machines that can cause computer systems to mistake the year 2000 for 1900. The problem comes into play because computer programs written in early computer history were designed to recognize the last two digits of the year, thereby forcing software to consider each year to be part of the 1900. Because the software will believe the new century will be 1900, many fear it will cause one of several problems, including:

• Program shutdowns

• Illegal operation messages

• Sporadic errors

• Complete failure as the program attempts to read debugging programs

Macintosh computers are exempt from the Y2K bug, but midway through the next century, rumor has it, Macs will face their own version of the problem.

Innocent, non-disgruntled postal workers delivered mail on their appointed routes Friday, Nov. 27 throughout Philadelphia. Unknown to those postal workers, they were delivering dated mail - time sensitive mail, as it's called in business and industry. In fact, they delivered the mail years too late. None of the 500 recipients complained to the Post Office; rather, they called the sending agency - in this case, it was the Philadelphia court system.

Those 500 recipients may be the first people who witnessed Y2K bug problems, as they were treated to a minor dose of what may happen in the U.S. and other countries as the year 2000 rings in. News dispatches from Philadelphia show that as many as 500 Philadelphians received notices from the jury commission, informing them to show for jury duty in 1900. 

Charles McLaughlin, who lives in the city's Port Richmond neighborhood, received his summons to jury duty that Friday. "I told my wife, 'I've got jury duty, but I can't go. I've already missed it.' Then I told her it was for January 3, 1900," he said. It's a good thing he called to check that the date had been printed incorrectly. Think of how embarrassed McLaughlin would have if he tried to show up for the court date. He probably would have been arrested on a 99-year-old bench warrant.

One city official said the problem involved only those people who had asked earlier in the year for a postponement for jury duty. The city's jury commissioner, Michael J. McAllister, said the sick and uneducated computers should be ready for the real calendar rollover.

"Yes, after all the work that was done to avoid this, it happened," said McAllister.

Yes, indeed, it did happen. It happened despite all your planning and preparation. It happened in a major city. It happened in a super power nation.

"Well, it was only one run of mailings, and we've taken care of it. It shouldn't happen again."

The year was wrong on only one run of mailings? So this run of mailings should be discarded and no one talk about them? Wrong. Discussion on this matter needs to ensue. Conversation on what happened, and why, needs to be heard by all. Preparation needs to be made in the event this happens elsewhere, and not limited to just court hearings.

If the City of Philadelphia thought everything was under control and something went awry, what was it that went wrong? Did someone take down the rubber cement backed messages saying to change the dates manually to the year 2000 on all forms? Did someone literally forget to type in the number "2000" in the database so records will be printed with the current year? No matter what the cause, the reason should be explained and examined, both internally by the Philadelphia courts, as well as between governmental agencies around the world, as well as full disclosed to the public. The public has an inherent interest in these documents. It is entitled to a full a disclosure by the city. Brian Anderson, charged with the responsibility of running and maintaining the city's computer systems, could not be reached for comment.

  - by Dave Jackson (Scoop0901)