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The following was written shortly after my arrest...

              \/\The Conscience of a Hacker/\/

                             by

                      +++The Mentor+++

                 Written on January 8, 1986
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    Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers.
"Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker
Arrested after Bank Tampering"...
    Damn kids.  They're all alike.

    But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's
technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker?
Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped
him, what may have molded him?
    I am a hacker, enter my world...
    Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter
than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores
me...
    Damn underachiever.  They're all alike.

    I'm in junior high or high school.  I've listened to
teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a
fraction. I understand it.  "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show
my work.  I did it in my head..."
    Damn kid.  Probably copied it.  They're all alike.

    I made a discovery today.  I found a computer.  Wait a
second, this is cool.  It does what I want it to.  If it
makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up.  Not because
it doesn't like me...
        Or feels threatened by me...
        Or thinks I'm a smart ass...
        Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...
    Damn kid.  All he does is play games.  They're all alike.

    And then it happened... a door opened to a world...
rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's
veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the
day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found.
    "This is it... this is where I belong..."
    I know everyone here... even if I've never met them,
never talked to them, may never hear from them again...
I know you all...
    Damn kid.  Tying up the phone line again.  They're all alike...

    You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed
baby food at school when we hungered for steak... the bits
of  meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and
tasteless.  We've been dominated by sadists, or ignored by
the apathetic.  The few that had something to teach found us
willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in
the desert.

    This is our world now... the world of the electron and
the switch, the beauty of the baud.  We make use of a service
already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap
if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us
criminals.  We explore... and you call us criminals.  We
seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals.  We exist
without skin color, without nationality, without religious
bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs,
you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to
make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

    Yes, I am a criminal.  My crime is that of curiosity.
My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think,
not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you,
something that you will never forgive me for.

    I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto.  You may stop
this individual, but you can't stop us all... after all,
we're all alike.

                      +++The Mentor+++

Hanes Beefy Tee 100% cotton black with gold foil print. Also available in Silver/Black and Silver/Grey.

Modeled by Taylor Clayborne of Shiftpoint

Comes on a black Hanes Beefy Tee, 100% cotton.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I don't need to tell you that cancer is pervasive in our world, but I will. Undoubtedly, it has affected a friend, a family member, a classmate, or someone you work with or know online. According to TIME, there is a 1 in 2 chance of a U.S. man facing a cancer diagnosis in his lifetime. Women have an only slightly better percentage at 1 in 3. Neither of these figures are very reassuring. I've been near many people who have struggled with and battled this disease, which is why Kingpin Empire is dedicated to contributing proceeds to charities focused on the education and research of cancers of all types, like the American Cancer Society. My friend, Colleen, recently celebrated her 18th year as a breast cancer survivor and that is a huge accomplishment and testament to existing cancer treatments and technologies. But, sometimes the results aren't as pleasant.

Please get involved any way you can to help the fight against cancer.

Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered shirts - you'll be receiving yours soon. I've also been working on a bunch of new designs, so stay tuned. And, as always, if you have any ideas, concepts, or artwork you'd like to share, let me know!

Kingpin Empire has donated 144 prototype Rock Logo t-shirts to Johnny's cause and the shirts will be distributed to kids and adults in some of the most impoverished villages in Africa.

It's an honor to be able to team up with Hackers for Charity. Our projects reach out to the global community in different ways, but they're both attempts to make a difference in people's lives. We'll be doing some more great stuff together in the future, so keep watching this space.

Hanes Beefy Tee 100% cotton black with silver foil print. Also available in Gold/Black and Silver/Grey.