2008 In Review

Six months ago, I decided to launch Kingpin Empire with a goal of giving back to our hacker community by inspiring, educating, and raising awareness about the community and donating money to technology- and health-related charities. Before starting this project, I wouldn’t exactly have called myself a philanthropist or activist and only occasionally donated money to various causes. But, it’s never too late to start and actions speak louder than words.

So, what have we accomplished?

• We got the website and store up and running.
• We manufactured a few t-shirt styles (which I wore on almost every episode of Prototype This on Discovery Channel).
• We donated just under $2,500 in cash to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, American Cancer Society, and American Heart Association.
• We donated over one hundred Kingpin Rock Logo t-shirts to Hackers For Charity, who distributed them to needy families in Africa.

We’re starting to get some momentum and I want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us, but there is still a long way to go. Academics and security researchers are still getting threatened and prosecuted for informing the public about security flaws in products and systems. Kids are still getting arrested and thrown in jail for technological mischief that previously would have just gotten a slap on the wrist. The more pervasive technology becomes in our culture, the more dangerous it becomes to people who don’t understand it. Our digital rights online and our basic rights as human beings are threatened on a daily basis.

For 2009, we’re keeping the pressure on. We’ll have a presence at SOURCE Boston and DEFCON. We’re also now looking to use the Kingpin Empire store to sell other apparel, products, music, or interesting things that are donated to the cause, instead of just selling our own gear. All proceeds will continue to go directly to charities.

If you’re interested in getting involved with Kingpin Empire in one way or another, drop me a line. I know what the hacker community is capable of and I know we can continue to make a difference.

-Joe Grand aka Kingpin