FBI To Lead World E-Commerce Forum

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will head up this year’s World E-Commerce Forum, at which global Internet security will be an issue for the first time, it was announced Friday.

The three-day World E-Com 2000 summit is slated to start October 18th in London. Michael Vatis, director of the FBI’s computer crime investigation unit, the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), will preside over about 600 delegates who plan to attend the event.

The goal of the summit, according to Vatis, is to identify how a global Internet security agency can be established, and how international law can be utilized to develop and enforce penalties against hackers and virus-mongers.

FBI Lends Credence to the Cause

“We are very pleased that the FBI will be participating in the forum,” David Rose, a forum organizer, told the E-Commerce Times. “It really lends weight to our cause. We’ve been very fortunate to build up relationships with major world organizations who recognize the importance of these issues.”

Involvement in the summit fits in with the NIPC’s objectives, set forth in a Presidential Decision Directive by President Clinton in 1998: “The NIPC will provide a national focal point for gathering information on threats to the infrastructure. Additionally, the NIPC will provide the principal means for facilitating and coordinating the Government’s resources to an incident, mitigating attack.”

Although heading the event, the FBI will not vote on the motion to be introduced at the meeting, which asks delegates, “Should there be a single, global e-security agency?”

International Faculty

A series of case studies and briefings examining the rapidly emerging new global digital economy will be presented at the forum. Faculty members will address topics such as “How a Mature Economy is Embracing E-Commerce,” “Preparing a Population for an Information Economy,” “Democratization of E-Commerce” and “The Impact of Global ISP/Media Mergers.”

The FBI will discuss how to combat Internet fraud, and apparel retailer Lands’ End will discuss its global e-commerce strategy with the other delegates.

Vatis will be supported by an international panel of permanent members of the Forum Faculty hailing from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Committee for International Trade Law, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Newly invited faculty includes representatives from the United Kingdom’s Cabinet Office, the Government of Ontario, Canada, Jupiter Communications (Europe) and Lands’ End.

Future Forums Planned

The World E-Commerce Forum was originally conceived by Corporate Media Associates after it worked with AOL on e-commerce consultant projects in 1998. The Western Australian government hosted the inaugural event in Perth, Australia in November 1999. Singapore will host World E-Com 2001, while World E-Com 2002 will take place in Boston, Massachusetts.

Commerce One, Deloitte & Touche, Equifax, Ericsson and Unisys are among the sponsors of the event.