IP: Bank officials, UK government fear Y2K reports will spark panic

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 11:04:52 -050
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>


My articles on Y2K panic:
  http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/17527.html
  http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/16618.html

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http://www.msnbc.com/local/KNBC/88965.asp
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4 ­ GTE, the Southland's No. 2 telephone company, 
stirred Y2K hysteria when it warned 1.5 million customers to withdraw "a 
few weeks worth of extra cash" in case the Y2K bug bites.

http://www.y2ktoday.com/modules/home/default.asp?id=804
ORANGE, Calif. (AP) _ California bank officials are not happy about a 
telephone company's newsletter that advised its 1.5 million customers to 
withdraw extra cash before the dawn of the new millennium.

**********

From: "Alan Docherty" <freenet@globalnet.co.uk> 
To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@well.com> 
Subject: British Y2K news 
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1999 09:09:37 -0000 

http://www.excite.co.uk/news/news_story/technology/tech7.txt

TV SHOW 'IRRESPONSIBLE' SAYS ACTION 2000
last updated 06/02/99 14:02
Thousands of people called the Government's "millennium bug" hotline after
seeing an item on daytime TV that mentioned "scenes of panic" and "centuries
without water or light" as possible results of the millennium computer
problem.
The feature, broadcast during the This Morning with Richard and Judy show,
was dubbed "irresponsible and dangerous" by Action 2000, the Government's
official campaign body and organiser of the telephone hotline.
[...]
Gwynneth Flower, director of Action 2000, said the piece was "the most
irresponsible and dangerous" journalism she had yet seen about the
millennium bug.
"The only reason that people might panic is if the likes of Richard and Judy
scare them into it. We were worried about the bug biting early, but it has
clearly bitten them in the head," she said.
[...]