Subject: Cashless Society and Y2K Problem Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 00:29:38 +0000 To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
From: Eddie Chumney Subject: Cashless Society and Y2K Problem To: <HEB_ROOTS_CHR@geocities.com> ************************************************************************* MARK OF THE BEAST CASHLESS SOCIETY LEGISLATION Bankers' Bill Gives Go Ahead for Biometrics in Banking "Digital Signature and Electronic Authentication Law (SEAL)" A bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate on March 2, 1998, by Senator Bennett which, if enacted will, set the stage for the coming cashless society. Once the electronic financial transaction "authentication" technologies are legitimized (which this bill will do) the totally electronic financial transaction system will be off and running. The bill is cosponsored by Senator McCain. Senator's Bennett's bill is referred to as the "SEAL" bill, which stands for "Signature and Electronic Authentication Law." What the bill does is authorize banks and financial institutions to establish electronic funds transfer systems which rely on "identity authentication" for conducting financial transactions. Totally electronic transactions will necessitate the use of either digitized biometric data submitted by a customer on demand at the point of the transaction (such as fingerprints and retina scans), or else the use of embedded microchips which can electronically store a customer's "electronic signature." However, in this case, the "signature" is not referring to a traditional written signature. It is, instead, an electronically stored representation of any one of an individual's many unique identifying attributes, referred to as "biometric" identification data. This bill is pretty much a "blank check" for the banking industry with regards to electronic authentication technology. It basically says that if the banking industry establishes a financial transactions system which incorporates technologies to authenticate a document and the document's originator "electronically," it will be OK for them to use it. This bill is just that broad. Rest assured, the banking community has already placed their "SEAL" of approval on Senate bill 1594. From Scott McDonald - mcdonald@XXXX.org ECONOMIC COLLAPSE 70% OF ASIAN BUSINESS EXPECTED TO SUFFER OR FAIL: Unisys Y2K expert foresees massive social implications by Nick Wilgus Bangkok Post February 4, 1998 Upwards of 70% of businesses in Asia will either fail outright or experience severe hardship because of the Year 2000 Problem(Y2K), according to Unisys Y2K expert Phillip Dodd, who was in town last week to participate in the Y2K Fair staged by Nectec. During an interview, Mr Dodd said there would be massive social implications - severe unemployment, social unrest, businesses failing left and right. "The current Asian currency crisis will look like a holiday in comparison," he said. MILLENNIUM BUG CAN'T BE STOPPED, SAYS U.K. EXPERT By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent - London Telegraph 3/27/98 It is now too late to fix the Millennium computer bug and urgent contingency plans are needed to limit damage to the national infrastructure, the head of a former Government advisory body said yesterday. On the eve of a speech by Tony Blair on Government proposals to tackle the Millennium bug, Robin Guenier, who was the head of Taskforce 2000 under the former Tory government, said that a satisfactory outcome was now impossible. He said that correcting the bug was even more complex than originally thought and most companies had made no preparations. Gwynneth Flower, the director of Action 2000, set up by the Labour Government to advise on the bug, has said that it is "a problem that could bring down a government". With only 20 months until 2000, only 16 per cent of public sector companies have started to convert software. Computer experts say the bug-fixing must be completed by the end of this year to allow 1999 for testing. Already, several systems, including credit cards that expire in 2000 or beyond, have failed. Mr Guenier said that, despite widespread warnings, business, industry and the Government had failed to take the issue seriously. "Significant numbers of large companies do not have it under control," he said. It is, put quite simply, too late. The outcome will range from inconvenience to disaster." Mr Guenier called on the Government to "unambiguously confirm that we are now dealing with an emergency" and draw up appropriate contingency plans. *************************************************************************