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Virtual Security Fence?
by k at 1:09 pm EDT, Jun 2, 2004

] The project will use the latest technology, including
] biometrics, to identify people coming into the United
] States. The contract was awarded to Accenture, formerly
] Andersen Consulting, over two competing contractors,
] Lockheed Martin and Computer Sciences. Several industry
] executives and analysts said that the award surprised
] them and that Accenture had widely been considered the
] outside candidate.

I have to say I have some sympathy with the outrage here. They award this huge homeland security contract with significant civil liberties implications to a company that was at the heart of the Enron scandal and is based out of the Caribbean for tax reasons. This is too important to trust to a company with such a culture of shadyness.

[ Did you expect anything else from our current group in charge? Nepotism, baby. Being at the heart of the Enron thing was probably a plus. -k]

RE: Virtual Security Fence?
by oaknet at 6:49 pm EDT, Jun 2, 2004

What we have here is the grounded version of Star Wars. It won't work, it won't be a defence, and it certainly won't stop determined folk entering a landmass the size of the USA, with or without WMD. In anycase, there are plenty of candidates for terrorism already inside the US, and with the Administration's behaviour since 9/11 you can expect to see some activity there.

Ladies and gentlemen, forget grandiose plans for locking yourselves away from the terrorists. Instead of trying to hide, get to the root of the problem, and deal with it. And the problem doesn't begin with the terrorists. They are a consequence, not a cause.

Virtual Security Fence? by noteworthy at 9:37 am EDT, Jun 2, 2004
The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday named Accenture as the prime contractor for a multibillion-dollar project aimed at creating a "virtual border" around the country to head off would-be terrorists entering the United States. <consultantese> "We view this as a business transformation and we're talking about changing business processes," said Eric Stange, Accenture's program manager for the project. "We're looking at the human dimension as well as the technology dimension." Part of our approach is to continually assess technology innovations. For a 10-year contract that's a generation or two of technology, and biometrics is a very hot area." </consultantese> In case you were getting jealous of certain other unnamed nations, now you, too, can have your very own. But is it a *virtual* "security fence" or a *"virtual security"* fence? Hrm.
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Virtual Security Fence?
by Decius at 12:19 pm EDT, Jun 2, 2004