The National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), the FBI's computer crime investigation organization, has announced plans to chair the world's first summit on global Internet security.

Plans call for the summit to be hosted by the World E-Commerce Forum (http://www.worldecom.org ), which takes place for its second year in London, starting its three-day run on Oct. 18. NIPC Director Michael Vatis will be supported by a panel of permanent members of the forum faculty. including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which will be hosting its own security meeting on October 5 and 6. Vatis said that the objectives of the summit will be to identify how a global Internet security agency can be established, and how international law can be used to develop and enforce penalties for hackers and virus-mongers. NIPC said that around 600 delegates plan to attend the forum, including senior e-commerce executives from government and companies from as far afield as Australia, China, Europe and South Africa. Plans call for delegates to deliver the first global, pan-industry mandate for security agencies to work together through a single agency to combat Internet and computer crime.