Such incidents appear to have gone unheeded and generally there was a lack of willingness to tackle the problem at an early stage. In fact there seems to be a powerful dynamic of secrecy. As the veil of secrecy thickens, the capacity for public discourse and shared participation in solution finding disappears. Since the Y2K problem has been anticipated a vast compliance industry has sprung up with large financial returns being made. IT consultancy firms are showering their Y2K workers with sign-on bonuses, loyalty bonuses, project bonuses, and high salaries according to a recent survey.
Organisations are concerned about their financial liability.
It has been reported in the US that trade organisations are supporting a proposed new bill to limit liability of companies related to Y2K compliance. A recent news item reported that UK outsourcers were using termination clauses to avoid responsibility for Y2K crashes. Most contracts only have six or even three month notice periods so the impact on clients could be significant. There are many serious questions to answer regarding the IT industry s role in creating the Y2K problem and its attitude in recent times to resolving this problem. A review of any of the codes of professional conduct in the industry suggests there might have been contraventions both in terms of attitude and practice.