A brand new analysis report launched right now 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 turn into important to safety states worldwide, channeling public sources into personal 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 a knowledge platform, elevating issues about privatization and privateness breaches because of Palantir’s navy connections.
The findings paint Accenture as a shadowy drive 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 charge 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 folks. Leaked emails later confirmed Accenture rigged the bidding course of, even occupying authorities places of work prematurely.
Now using 750,000 folks throughout 49 nations with $64.1 billion in 2023 income, Accenture ranks among the many high U.S. authorities contractors, working with companies 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 function in developing biometric and predictive policing programs worldwide. Key tasks embrace:
- India’s Aadhaar (2010): Managing the world’s largest biometric database, protecting 1.3 billion folks, with rights to retailer and hyperlink knowledge.
- UNHCR Biometrics (2015): Gathering knowledge on 450,000 refugees in Thailand and Chad.
- Finland Migration (Latest): A €50-100 million contract to automate immigration processes.
Inner 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 heart, amplifies its surveillance attain. Each companies attended the 2024 “AI for Conflict” convention, signaling a push for militarized AI. Their NHS contract has drawn protests over Palantir’s ties to Israeli intelligence and IDF bombing programs.
The report additionally uncovers Accenture’s function 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 develop 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 function in privatizing public companies and enabling state repression grows.
The report labels it a cornerstone of the “Reactionary Worldwide,” deciding who’s flagged as “dangerous” or detained, usually focusing on minorities and activists.
Progressive Worldwide urges world investigators to scrutinize Accenture’s contracts, usually evading public oversight. Not like Palantir or Lockheed Martin, Accenture operates with much less scrutiny, cloaked in company respectability. The Accenture Recordsdata intention to spark a reckoning for a agency making the most of surveillance and state violence.
Discover this Information Attention-grabbing! Comply with us on Google Information, LinkedIn, & X to Get Prompt Updates!
