[LEAPSECS] one second tolerance

[Ian Batten]

On 9 Feb 2011, at 08:40, Clive D.W. Feather wrote:


> Mark Calabretta said:

>> Not if the timestamps are properly labelled with the timezone,

>> preferably specified as an offset, which distinguishes between

>> DST and non-DST.

> 

> <falls about laughing>

> 

> I was involved in a murder case where the police investigated the wrong

> person because they hadn't realized the difference between UTC and BST.

> What makes you think that financial lawyers will think of it.


Microsoft Exchange meeting invitations say things like "GMT: London, Edinburgh, Lisbon", and then contain local timestamps corrected for daylight savings.  They do that all year round.  Whatever the timezone in London is in July, one thing it certainly _isn't_ is GMT.   They mean "clock on the wall time in places where the civil time is UTC or UT1 during the winter".  Extra fun will ensue if England moves to full-time daylight saving or to WET, both of which have a non-zero chance of happening, while Scotland remain on their existing arrangements, which also has a non-zero chance.

Timestamping financial events to 1s resolution opens up the whole "is UK legal time UT1 or UTC?" question again, too.

ian