Y2K and the Internet - Part 2: The U.S. >From an interview on July 23rd, 1999, with Mr. Solomon Sampson, a member of the ratings committee of Standard & Poors, Inc., the foremost service which rates the credit-worthiness of the bonds and other debt of U.S. corporations and state and municipal governments and their agencies: Question: Is Standard & Poors including Y2K readiness in its credit ratings? Mr. Sampson: "In theory, if we were to be aware that a company would not be compliant we would assess how damaging it would be and the competitive disadvantage that it would entail for that company, and incorporate that risk into the rating. In practice, we are not aware, and are not in a position to be aware, within the context of the rating analysis, of which companies may or may not be compliant. Everyone tells us they're going to be, and we can't do a technical audit of them and/or their suppliers and affiliates to make sure they won't be affected. So, as a practical matter, we are just assuming that most companies either will be in compliance or will scramble and get back into things shortly after the millenium and not be affected in a very profound way." Question: Do you know of any service, either of the government or of any other agency, which is providing a Y2K-readiness rating service based on ascertainable criteria, of corporations which are issuing debt instruments? Mr. Sampson: "No, not really. Some of the banks have done some surveys. I think Merrill did a survey maybe six months ago. But I'm not sure I'd value it. It's been criticized. I can tell you right now that the result was that everybody they asked said they were going to be compliant." ........................................................................ Y2K and the Internet is a three-part series provided as a public service by the International Congress of Independent Internet Users (ICIIU). Part 1: The World View was posted on July 26. The full series will be found at the ICIIU website (www.iciiu.org) after Part 3 has been posted publicly. ============================================================ Michael Sondow I.C.I.I.U. http://www.iciiu.org Tel. (212)846-7482 Fax: (603)754-8927 ============================================================
