U.S. Awards $10B ID Contract

[dArKeR]

 Accenture LLP, a technology and management consulting company, was awarded a government contract Tuesday worth up to $10 billion to develop and expand biometric technology for checking identities of foreigners visiting America.

The system, known as US-VISIT, requires foreigners to be fingerprinted and photographed upon entering the United States at a major airport or seaport. The technology also can include iris scans to identify people.

The Department of Homeland Security awarded Accenture the contract over two other bidders, Lockheed Martin, based in Bethesda, Maryland, and Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, California. Accenture's parent company is Accenture Ltd., which is incorporated in Bermuda.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/tech/main620615.shtml

[Bozita]

1. Since Accenture is a Bermuda corp, Bush'll count this as foreign aid

[74dodgedart]

13. Its ridiculous that a contract this large goes to a company thats hiding

from taxes..

[Just Me]

2. Well, as long as they don't limit my ability to get the hell out,...

,...of this wacko nation. Ewww. I am sorry to state such a sentiment. But, the "Love it or Leave it" thingy, betrays my Love for the principles this country had yielded and now sacrifices at the feet of dark visionaries.

No, thank you. I prefer an identity without the neocon shadow over humanity.

[LisaM]

3. What else is this company involved in?

I recognize that name......

[phoebe]

5. military e-voting, purging of voter rolls for a start..

http://www.sptimes.com/News/120301/State/New_voter_rolls_arous.shtml

snip

Accenture, formerly Andersen Consulting, beat out three rivals in part because of an alliance with election.com, a firm that helped create the statewide voter registration database in Arkansas.

Accenture is represented by the lobbying firm of Poole, McKinley and Blosser, a firm with Republican ties. But the company said the database contract involved no lobbying. Craft said he had no contact from any company lobbyists.

Meg McLaughlin, Accenture's project partner, emphasized that the new Florida database will not remove any names from the rolls. Instead, she said, software will be programmed to "look at records and identify potential problems" that will be referred to the 67 county election supervisors for action

[Spazito]

6. Accenture was an offshoot of Anderson, the infamous...

accounting firm with Enron.

[tainted_chimp]

10. The nepotism of a sick extended family

:puke:

[onehandle]

9. Short history.

They are a spin-off of Arthur Andersen, formerly know as Andersen Consulting.

The divorced from Andersen and "Lost the name. Thus Accenture was born.

Accenture will be the Enron and Andersen of the next decade, and love the GOP just as much.

[LosinIt]

4. Ju must have Jour papers!!

Vithout Jour papers ju cannot pass!!!!! Get used to it folks.

[jonnyo]

7. Foreign visitors.... yeah... right.

Kind of insulting when my own tax dollars are going to be used to oppress me.

[LisaM]

8. They're connected to the voting machines

they helped "accredit" Diebold. This is unbelievable.


Snip....

The total includes a comprehensive package containing all of the equipment and services required to ensure successful elections operations. When considered in total on a statewide basis, the package consists of all necessary voting machines, software, full implementation support, extensive training of over 48,000 election officials and Election Day assistance.

In addition, full warranty on all equipment and software has been included for five years (with pricing also negotiated for years six through ten), which is the longest duration contract negotiated at the state level to date. Accenture, LLP was hired to identify, collect and analyze key data related to the vendors, their products, pricing trends, economic factors and other industry data points. Their market data analysis assisted the secretary of state negotiating team in determining the true market value of systems and terms resulting in a savings of $33 million from initial bids to final negotiated costs.

... Snip

Sorry, I just lost the link. But wait, there's more! They have the contract to provide voting to the military.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=55

[nolabels]

11. Damn, this story has so many angles, where do ................

start to dig :wtf:

The esteemed NYT editorial had this :puke:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/31/opinion/31MON1.html?ex=1401422400&en=3fffa3b2b165daf6&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
A National ID

Published: May 31, 2004
he very idea of a national identity card has always rankled Americans across the political spectrum. It conjures images of totalitarianism — Big Brother or even the German SS soldier asking to see a citizen's papers. But in most European countries, people carry national ID's as a matter of course. And pressure is mounting in America for some kind of security card.

Private companies in the United States are already marketing the idea of providing a secure card for those willing to submit to extra background checks, similar to a concept proposed by the airlines. Tenants of high-rise buildings or workers at chemical plants, for example, also want security without endless body searches and bag checks. It's time for Congress to begin a serious discussion of how to create a workable national identification system without infringing on the constitutional rights of Americans.

Concerns for security have already forced Americans to flash identification far more frequently than they would ever have imagined before the terrorist attacks of 2001. Driver's licenses are well on their way to becoming "de facto" national ID's. Their inappropriateness is one of the most compelling reasons for a national identification card. The states have wildly different standards for determining whether applicants for driver's licenses really are who they say they are, making them only minimally reliable for security purposes. And turning driver's licenses into identification cards undermines their original purpose — to make certain that drivers are qualified to handle a car or truck. The very rational argument in favor of allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses — that it would encourage them to learn to drive safely and to obtain insurance — is undermined if the licenses are also used to demonstrate that a person is not a security rise
(snip)

I found it here
http://www.prisonplanet.com/

Somewhere in between or around the these views, a nugget of truth must be.

[hunter]

15. A big problem with identification papers...

Is that they can be forged by the issuing authorities for use by their agents.

When you are not the person you say you are, it is easier to hide when all your "papers are in order" if your society has grown dependent on monolithic national identification schemes.

Suddenly the worst sort of government embezzler can be a new person with a good credit rating, and the most notorious and abusive prison guard can start anew somewhere else.

[nolabels]

16. We understand the ying / yang

They turn the table upside down to gain control. How does this square with their disposable society. Trashing our world and destroying values is their way. I trust not and feel they do not have good intentions but I have just as much caution of people who say people need to stay the same. Finding the middle ground is sometimes best.

[TahitiNut]

12. "checking identities of foreigners" ... means collecting citizen data, too

Since these evul furriners will ALL be fingerprinted and id'd biometrically in order to "check" their identities while they're in the US, the only charade needed to collect biometric data on US citizens is the claim that they need to "check" to see whether they're an "alien". Then, the citizen will be fingerprinted and biometrically id'd ... and the data will be captured.

The notion that human beings have differing "rights" is contrary to the very notion of "human rights."

[hunter]

14. Yep, it's a ruse...

Do all the "foreigners" first, then do the citizens as they are able.

It's very likely this is just another multi-billion dollar scam, but if it's not, what will happen if they want to ID me, an American Citizen, as I'm walking down the street minding my own business? What if I'm in a bad mood and I tell them to "FUCK OFF!" ?

Are they going to claim they thought I was a "foreigner?" Yes, and then they will be oh so sorry for violating my rights...

Yeah, sure they will... after I "fall down" once or twice.

The ONLY time I carry my driver's license is while I'm driving. That's all it's good for. There are a lot of uses it's bad for.

[hippywife]

20. This is already a reality here.

I'm sure other states are doing this since OK is not on the cutting edge of anything but we are now required to give a digitized fingerprint when we obtain our driver's licenses.

I am so outraged to the point of exploding but what the hell are you supposed to do when they deny your DL because you won't give a fingerprint??? :mad: :mad:

[DulceDecorum]

17. The Berg Video

was first reported by Ghaida Ghantous who is/was an Accenture employee.
Almost every single time an al qaeda video shows up,
Ghaida Ghantous is the reporter who announces it to the world from
DUBAI Reuters.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x11866#12002

Accenture was formerly known as Andersen Consulting.
Yes,
Aurthur Andersen,
the accounting crooks of Enron,
as in
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA against ARTHUR ANDERSEN, LLP
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/enron/usandersen030702ind.html

And you wonder why we are at war.....

[struggle4progress]

18. Unbelievable boondoggle!

[nolabels]

22. Lots of background here, It reads like a who's who on scamers

Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) - Corporate Profile
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/corp_profiles/public_service_gats/corp_profile_ps_accenture.html#Anchor-11773

on edit a quicky on who these people do bussiness with (they are really just a broker who hands bidness out to others). They seem to have a lot of connections to shady companies Haliburton and deals to help Shell screw over people in Nigeria and steal their oil profits. They have very little actual real money or asset outlays and are more of a front company

http://www.consultant-news.com/accenture.asp

[struggle4progress]

23. Loved some of the editorial quotes on the polaris site!

From Ottawa Citizen Editorial disparaging the contract between the Ontario Government and Accenture for the restructure of the welfare system: “when it comes to dealing with high priced consultants, you pay dearly. And why not? Private companies wish, quite understandably, to maximize their profits. They are not in the business of saving taxpayers money. The lesson is that if a service truly needs to be provided by government, then government should do the job.” <“Accent on Savings”, Ottawa Citizen Editorial, October 22, 2001>

Lynn Brant, who quit as Ohio’s Social Service’s Performance Management chief in July 2001: “We didn’t have any resources and couldn’t fill staff positions for $20/hour, and we were basically given a whole gaggle of these people, who were billing at $175/hour and up. As far as I am concerned, it was a blatant waste of resources.” <“State Probes $26 billion no-bid deal; Welfare Director gave contracts – got one”, Ted Wendling, Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 26th, 2001>

[nolabels]

24. They even want to help Amerika to vote

This would seem a small detail (unless the election was close). I wonder did they put this one place?
from the link on bottom

http://www.consultant-news.com/Article_Display.asp?ID=835

14/08/2003 Accenture helps Department of Defense develop secure Internet registration and voting demonstration for 2004 election
(snip)
The SERVE voting system will accept voter registration applications and absentee ballot requests over the Internet for the 2004 primaries and general election. Uniformed Services members away from their voting jurisdiction, as well as citizens living outside the U.S., who are residents of one of the states and counties that volunteered to participate in the demonstration, will be eligible to access SERVE. States expected to have participating counties include Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington.

The SERVE voting system that the Accenture team is developing includes an end-to-end registration and voting system, integrated with local voter registration systems and processes; ballot generation and tabulation systems; digital certificates; and multi-layer security protection. SERVE is designed to permit eligible citizens to register to vote, check their registration status, update registration information, view their ballot, vote the ballot remotely, return the ballot, verify voted ballot selections and check vote status.

Accenture is providing program management, security engineering, software engineering and systems integration support to this congressionally mandated program. Major members of the Accenture team are AFFINA, Hart InterCivic, HP and VeriSign. Once SERVE is up and running, the Accenture team will provide ongoing technical and help desk support up through and following the November 2004 presidential elections.

The SERVE system will be deployed to participating jurisdictions for use in the 2004 elections. A full report on the results of the SERVE project will be delivered to Congress in June 2005.

Additional information on the SERVE project is available at www.SERVEUSA.gov.
(snip)

Sure is nice the report will come out after the election is already over

[struggle4progress]

25. I thought for some reason DoD backed out of internet voting for 2004

[nolabels]

26. They tried, but it looks like the BEV the patriot thwated them

ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION SERVICE
CHART BY STATE
http://www.fvap.gov/vao/etschart.html


http://www.fvap.gov/services/evoting.htm
e-Voting Initiatives

The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) is continually working with states to enhance the ability of UOCAVA citizens to vote absentee.

One of the main problems UOCAVA citizens have voting is the time to receive and return the ballot by mail.

During the 2000 General Election, FVAP implemented a small pilot project to determine if voting using the Internet was techncially feasible and secure. This pilot, Voting Over the Internet (VOI), was successful. Click here for more information about VOI.
Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE)

In 2001, Congress requested that the Department of Defense (DOD) conduct an electronic voting experiment and report on the feasibility of this technology to facilitate UOCAVA voting participation. The Federal Voting Assistance Program worked closely with seven volunteer states and nearly 50 counties to develop a highly secure web-based registration and voting system for use in the 2004 elections to carry out this Congressional mandate.

Concerns were raised that, given the current security vulnerabilities of the Internet and voters’ personal computers, no Internet voting system could be 100% secure. Rather than potentially bringing the integrity of the election results into doubt, the Department of Defense has decided not to deploy the SERVE system for use in 2004.

[Claire Beth]

19. outragous! n/t

[lostnfound]

21. kick nt

[minkyboodle]

27. unbelievable

Kick

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

28. Popping a CAPP, TOO.

[Karenina]

Kick!

:kick:

[Tellurian]

29. Asa Hutchinson should make himself available for a flogging...

in the WH Rotunda. The morality of integrity fails to strike a cord within republican enclaves. IOW-

as President Clinton is wont to say, rings true:
"Bush doesn't FIRE criminals, he HIRES them!"

[bleedingheart]

30. Accenture is filled with incompetents

might as well have lit the entire pile of cash on fire.