True to the Scene and All that it Means
Everything I grew up on in the early 1980s and 1990s, everything I cherished in underground subculture has now been filtered, dumbed down, commercialized, and packaged by big business. Computer hacking. Hardcore music. Skateboarding. Our communities, once just groups of like-minded individuals looking to make a change or learn something new, now infiltrated by people who don't live it and breathe it like we do. Subcultures become popular and suddenly everyone wants a piece of the action. Maybe it happens with every generation, but I can't just easily accept it.
Over the years, I've become increasingly disenchanted with how our hacker culture has turned into a glossy, manicured "industry" and how our do-it-yourself mindset has been poisoned with sound bites and step-by-step projects meant for instant gratification. In 2000, when I was with the L0pht in Boston, I became part of the problem and sold what I held most dear to a band of venture capitalists in hopes of trying to change the world by imparting our hacker mindset on corporate culture. It didn't work. But, what it did do was open my eyes to the harsh reality of big business and what big money really does to people. I needed to get back on track. I needed to create something that I could once again unequivocally believe in.
Kingpin Empire is born from my roots in the hacker community. It is completely self-funded. There is no outside influence and no snake oil. I work with independent artists to design high-quality apparel and gear. All proceeds, after operating expenses, go directly to selected hacker, civil liberties, and health-related charities to help better our lives and save our rights for future generations of hackers and free thinkers. With Kingpin Empire, I now have an outlet to give back to the community that gave me a place to fit in and that shaped my life.
- Joe Grand (aka Kingpin)
3 Responses
Leave a Comment
yep hacking has gotten way to commercialized......wait isn't this a site that is selling things??!?!?! ZOMG THE IRONY!
Think about it a little bit more. Yeah, I'm selling things to raise money for *charities* and raise awareness of our community that has been stigmatized. It's far from the slick, commercial endeavors you see selling t-shirts to the masses at your favorite strip mall. I'm one guy trying to make a difference in a community that I grew up in. You don't have to like it, but you should certainly appreciate it.
Hi! ... actually, you are right Joe, we were stigmatized in every place of the world ... you can't be a hacker or talk about that, because automatically it will be related to illegality or someone will ask to hack his girlfriend's email account :P.
The hackers and free thinkers comunity is growing every day in the whole world ... I'm member of an OpenSource Community in Argentina and we have a lot of members who are working to make the world a better place, we and every free thinker of the world shares their knowledge and experiences, and there is no better thing than share, and sharing is the key word. So I will need to give you my congratulations man! ... not only you are sharing your knowledge ... you are sharing your earnings for charities. There is the key!!! you are making the difference!!!