A brand new analysis report launched at this time by Progressive Worldwide, Expose Accenture, and the Motion Analysis Unit uncovers the sprawling affect of Accenture, the world’s largest consultancy agency, in driving a worldwide wave of surveillance, exclusion, and authoritarianism.
The investigation reveals how Accenture has develop into important to safety states worldwide, channeling public assets into non-public possession whereas using invasive applied sciences.
Spanning 41 contracts throughout 4 continents, the report particulars Accenture’s alliances with tech surveillance giants like Palantir, based by Peter Thiel, to safe profitable authorities offers.
One distinguished instance is a £480 million contract with the UK’s Nationwide Well being Service (NHS) for an information platform, elevating issues about privatization and privateness breaches as a consequence of Palantir’s navy connections.
The findings paint Accenture as a shadowy pressure shaping insurance policies that prioritize management over civil liberties.
Accenture’s roots lie in Arthur Andersen, the accounting agency embroiled within the Enron collapse. Rebranded in 2001 and integrated in Bermuda later, Eire for tax advantages, Accenture secured a low 3.5% tax price in comparison with the UK’s 24%.
Its meteoric rise got here post-9/11 with a U.S. Division of Homeland Safety contract for the US-VISIT program, making a biometric database monitoring 200 million individuals. Leaked emails later confirmed Accenture rigged the bidding course of, even occupying authorities workplaces prematurely.
Now using 750,000 individuals throughout 49 nations with $64.1 billion in 2023 income, Accenture ranks among the many high U.S. authorities contractors, working with businesses like ICE and the Division of Protection. Its world footprint contains an workplace internet hosting an Israeli consulate, reads the Reactionary report.
Digital Surveillance Empire
The Accenture Recordsdata expose the agency’s position in setting up biometric and predictive policing techniques worldwide. Key tasks embrace:
- India’s Aadhaar (2010): Managing the world’s largest biometric database, protecting 1.3 billion individuals, with rights to retailer and hyperlink knowledge.
- UNHCR Biometrics (2015): Amassing knowledge on 450,000 refugees in Thailand and Chad.
- Finland Migration (Latest): A €50-100 million contract to automate immigration processes.
Inside paperwork reveal Accenture’s imaginative and prescient of a “futuristic surveillance community” utilizing facial recognition, cameras, and fingerprint readers.
The agency has additionally pushed predictive policing, with contracts like a £80 million take care of London’s Metropolitan Police and tasks in India’s Uttar Pradesh and Bihar utilizing facial recognition to watch crowds. A Rotterdam welfare fraud algorithm was criticized for ethnic and gender bias, performing barely higher than random guesses.
Accenture’s alliance with Palantir, launched in 2022 with a joint innovation middle, amplifies its surveillance attain. Each companies attended the 2024 “AI for Battle” convention, signaling a push for militarized AI. Their NHS contract has drawn protests over Palantir’s ties to Israeli intelligence and IDF bombing techniques.
The report additionally uncovers Accenture’s position in brokering navy and surveillance tech transfers between Israel and India. In 2017, it proposed leveraging India’s engineering for Israeli protection companies, coinciding with $2 billion in exports.
Accenture’s acquisition of Israeli cyberwarfare agency Maglan, linked to controversial navy operations, and funding in Team8, based by a Unit 8200 veteran, deepen this nexus. The IINSPIRE initiative with NASSCOM goals to broaden the collaboration between Israel and India in surveillance.
The investigation reveals a sample of bid-rigging and failure:
- Angola (2020): $54 million tied to cash laundering for Isabel dos Santos.
- U.S. (2018-2019): A $297 million border agent recruitment contract yielded two hires.
- Scotland (2013): A $58 million police IT contract collapsed, costing Accenture $14.8 million in settlements.
- Luxembourg (2019): A $200 million tax evasion settlement.
Regardless of these scandals, Accenture secured £350 million from the UK authorities in 2023 as a “Strategic Provider,” highlighting its entrenched authorities ties.
With consulting spending hovering, UK contracts hit $3.95 billion by 2022, Canada’s reached $16.4 billion in 2020—Accenture’s position in privatizing public providers and enabling state repression grows.
The report labels it a cornerstone of the “Reactionary Worldwide,” deciding who’s flagged as “dangerous” or detained, typically focusing on minorities and activists.
Progressive Worldwide urges world investigators to scrutinize Accenture’s contracts, typically evading public oversight. In contrast to Palantir or Lockheed Martin, Accenture operates with much less scrutiny, cloaked in company respectability. The Accenture Recordsdata purpose to spark a reckoning for a agency making the most of surveillance and state violence.
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