New York Magazine has published an article on Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar : The Pierre Omidyay Insurgency. The article is long and interesting, it deals largely with how the Snowden leaks gave him a cause, as the tag line for the article points out :
The eBay founder was a mild-mannered Obama supporter looking for a way to spend his time and fortune. The Snowden leaks gave him a cause — and an enemy.
Andrew Rice’s article paints a picture of Pierre that took me by surprise, I didn’t realise he was such a philanthropist, I also didn’t realise he had immersed himself with Second Life so much and it’s that information that drew me to the article :
Though he continued to be eBay’s board chairman and largest shareholder, Omidyar receded from view in Silicon Valley. “Pierre has been such a reclusive guy for the past few years,” says Philip Rosedale, who founded the technology firm Linden Lab, developer of the animated interactive world Second Life. During the mid-2000s, Omidyar immersed himself in the Second Life community, adopting a secret identity: a tattooed black man named Kitto Mandala. Even after Omidyar became a Linden Lab investor, Rosedale primarily interacted with his animated avatar. Mandala rode a Segway and wore a T-shirt that said KISS ME I’M LAWFUL EVIL. He could fly, and hardly anyone knew he was really a billionaire.
I’m not really sure why I’m surprised that someone who invested in Second Life was also immersed with the platform. Gawker point to a Flickr profile which appears to be that of Kitto, although the last picture is from 2007, it is actually of a discussion about eBay in Second Life.
The Flickr profile is interesting because you can see how much Second Life has changed over the last seven to nine years, those pictures look quite dated now. Kitto is also seen wearing a T-Shirt with the slogan : “Kiss Me I’m Chaotic Evil” on it.
There’s also evidence of a Snapzilla profile in that name, which features many of the same images from the Flickr stream.
Of course this could all be a red herring and Kitto Mandala may not be Pierre Omidyar ….
However whatever the truth of the matter, there’s an interesting premise here and Andrew Rice’s article is worth reading for its own merits, with or without the Second Life references. There’s a lot in there that is extremely relevant concerning online privacy etc. However after reading the article I still can’t decide whether Kitto Mandala is Lawful Evil or Chaotic Evil.