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John McAfee

John McAfee68 posts

John McAfee is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur born in 1945. He was one of the first people to design anti-virus software and to develop a virus scanner, creating McAfee Associates. He now has no relationship with the company, which was sold to Intel Corp. In 2010 he moved to Belize to start a biotech company, but left the country when accused of murdering his neighbor. He currently resides in the U.S.

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11 Sep, 2015

‘Cyber war more dangerous than nuclear devastation’

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In an editorial for International Business Times McAfee outlines the “vector of his foreign policy.

The United States government, like much of the Western developed world governments, has lost touch with the technology upon which the power, as well as the threats to national security within our government, rests. That technology is the science of cyber engineering, and the cyber-security aspects of this science have been developed into the weapons that will be used as the main offensive means of destruction in the upcoming new age of warfare. The next major war will not be fought with guns, ships and missiles. It will a cyber war with far more devastation than could possibly be achieved by our combined nuclear arsenals. Or if conventional weapons are used, they are likely to be our own turned against ourselves…we must also see cyber attacks from foreign governments for what they are – acts of war – and respond accordingly.

10 Sep, 2015

Official campaign announcement

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McAfee releases his official campaign announcement video.

It is near certain that the authors of The Declaration of Independence and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address — texts of agonizing beauty in the face of today’s harsh realities — could not have anticipated a world in which spy cameras are hidden in cactuses; the government surreptitiously parses our verbal communications; and the concept of privacy is fast approaching extinction. They could not have anticipated a world in which information is the prime commodity of exchange, at the expense of grace, compassion, solitude, and the remaining fragile components of the besieged human heart. What they did anticipate is that governments, no matter how powerful, will always hunger for more power, and that power inevitably corrupts.

9 Sep, 2015

Runs for president

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McAfee announces his presidential run, and the launch of the Cyber Party. He says he decided to run after being encouraged by “almost everyone” he knows and meets, and because he believes governments worldwide are “out of touch”.  McAfee says the hallmarks of his campaign would be his outspoken nature and his willingness to answer any question about his background. He will run on a privacy platform, saying that the desire to respond to terrorist attacks had opened citizens up to excessive surveillance.

I have a huge underground following on the web. I promise you I will win because I have the votes…We are losing privacy at an alarming rate — we have none left. We’ve given up so much for the illusion of security and our government is simply dysfunctional. The government can spy on people using their mobile phones while they’re with their wives and husbands.

He also says that his recent DUI was the result of Xanax, a claims that he says will be supported by a blood test.

8 Sep, 2015

Files to run for president

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McAfee says he has filed the necessary paperwork to enter the 2016 race. In the documents, McAfee also specifies that he is “founding a new party yet to be announced.” His presidential campaign site, which is now live, does not have details on his stances on the issues. A quote on the site is attributed to George Washington:

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism

20 Aug, 2015

Reddit AMA

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McAfee conducts a Reddit AMA, where he talks about society:

Here’s what I’ve learned. People will be people, you can trust no one. It’s not a bad thing/cynical. I trust people to be people, to act in their own self-interests. If you understand that, you can use that! People will be disloyal, I’ve heard there are wives that sleep around, etc. We are disloyal, but loving, kind, gracious. We are a contradiction, the negatives are not bad if you see them for what they are. You cannot trust people, big deal, you CAN trust them to be self-interested, and I use that all the f-cking time.

About Belize:

The most beautiful in the world. It has a barrier reef, 2nd in the world. I had 5 boats on the beach on the ocean, you try that anywhere else. It has jungles and ruins that haven’t even been explored. The problem is that it has people there, people descended from pirates. There is nothing illegal that the government there is not into. The government is smart if you just go there as an American you will not be bothered. I lived in the jungles where I was the only white person, and they were on to me. They asked me for $2M, weeks later 40+ armed men stormed my house, shot my favorite dog, and held me in the sun with my hands tied. The next day the congressman came and apologized asked for the $2M again. I should have done that rather than tell him to get the f-ck off my property.

And life:

Money corrupts. Once you have enough money, you have no friends, none, even the most dedicated friend you had cannot stop thinking about his mortgage, or new car, or new wife, and friendship ends. Second, your life becomes a nightmare. I was getting 1000/day asking for help, or asking for me to invest (the best was rocket-power roller skates, I almost invested). Money now has become information, how does Google live? They gather information on smartphones and their services. This is far worse than paper. Paper doesn’t try to get into your head, to find out who you’re f-cking, etc. We are all jealous, hopeful and ambitious, and as long as that exists we’ll all have chaos.

7 Aug, 2015

DUI, gun possession arrest

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John Mcafee DUI mugshotMcAfee is arrested in Tennessee for DUI and possession of a handgun while under the influence. Police confirm McAfee is a resident of Lexington, TN, in the western part of the state between Nashville and Memphis. He is released on $5,000 bond.

8 Aug, 2014

Brownlist

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mcafee-defconMcAfee announces he has started Brownlist.com to take complaints filed by ordinary people about a perceived injustice such as repression from a government or callous act of a large corporation, and find justice via crowdsourcing suggestions from readers. The site also gives the entity that is the subject of the complaint 24 hours to respond before posting the complaint. During a surprise speech at DefCon:

Turn your anger into something positive

From the site:

People are already complaining online in high numbers, but with BrownList, subscribers have a way to effectively deal with complaints and boost their reputations.

He says he is raising money by donations to fund the company as he left his money in banks in Belize, his former domicile. BrownList is free for users posting and responding to complaints but requires a subscription fee before entities can respond to complaints about themselves. FAQ section:

Subscriptions are set to be cost-effective and affordable for different types of entities, including non-profit and charitable institutions, as part of BrownList’s mission to help the world become more transparent, fair, proactive, and solution-oriented.

12 Jun, 2014

QiKfunder.com equity stake

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Future Tense Secure Systems (FTC) acquires an equity stake in QiKfunder.com, which provides funding solutions such as crowdsourcing  for social, community, equity and real estate ventures.

Qikfunder offers the best security and best approach of any of the crowdfunding outfits. I am always interested in helping and growing new tech start-ups and ideas. Qikfunder’s goal is to make fundraising accessible to everyone

5 Jun, 2014

Radio Ink keynote

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McAfee delivers the keynote speech at Radio Ink’s Convergence conference. He says that Google is trying matchmaking services:

I don’t want the perfect  mate. I don’t want Google to search 5 billion women to find the perfect one. I would shoot myself in six months.

He says privacy is difficult due to the access to personal data that companies like Google and organizations like the NSA have:

Privacy is a choice. If everybody here knew everything about everybody else, there would be fistfights in the hall. The only way we can live together as a society is if we deceive each other. Tragic, but true […] If you have something to hide in this world, you’re screwed

3 Jun, 2014

ESC filming starts

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SUKI Films announces principal photography has started on ESC in Sudbury, Ontario. The film is due for release in theaters and over other platforms in summer 2015. It is directed by Alain DesRochers and stars Molly Parker (House of Cards, The Firm), Nick Krause (The Descendants, Parenthood) and Juliette Gosselin (Les Jeunes Loups, Martyrs). McAfee provides off-screen narration as the computer voice.

https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/474977532711043072

5 May, 2014

Releases CHADDER

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Future Tense Central (FTC) and developer Etransfr release CHADDER, a free private messaging app that encrypts and decrypts messages at endpoint devices in order to increase security. It is initially available as an Android app on Google Play, with an iOs version planned for release on iTunes. McAfee says only users of the app can view message content:

We have developed this highly secure system with an extraordinary  team of developers at the prestigious RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology)…CHADDER is a fun and easy to use messaging app that happens to keep your communications private. So private that we can’t see it ourselves.

8 Jan, 2014

Intel drops McAfee brand

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Intel CEO Krzanich announces the renaming of the McAfee brand to Intel Security. McAfee:

I am now everlastingly grateful to Intel for freeing me from this terrible association with the worst software on the planet. These are not my words, but the words of millions of irate users. My elation at Intel’s decision is beyond words.

3 Oct, 2013

Obamacare ‘A hacker’s wet dream’

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In an interview with Cavuto, McAfee says that Obamacare is a hacker’s “wet dream”

Well, here’s the problem — it’s not something software can solve. I mean, what idiot put this system out there and did not create a central depository? There should be one website, run by the government, you go to that website and then you can click on all of the agencies. This is insane. So, I will predict that the loss of income for the millions of Americans who are going to lose their identities — I mean, you can imagine some retired lady in Utah, who has $75,000 dollars in the bank, saving her whole life, having it wiped out one day because she signed up for Obamacare. And believe me, this is going to happen millions of times. This is a hacker’s wet dream. I cannot believe that they did this.

JOHN MCAFEE WITH NEIL CAVUTO " OBAMACARE A HACKERS WET DREAM"

1 Oct, 2013

Announces $100 ‘anti-NSA’ device

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McAfee announces plans for a device, called ‘D-Central’, which would be resistant to government surveillance by creating localized, super-secure networks. It is the first product from his company, Future Tense Central. McAfee claims the device will be so effective that governments will be likely to ban its use. If this happens he promises to sell it in other countries, claiming “this is coming and cannot be stopped.”

I’m 68 years old and if you can just give me any small amount of information about yourself, I promise you within three days, I can turn on the camera on your computer at home and watch you do whatever you’re doing, provided you’re still connected to the net. If I can do it, any idiot can do it. We live in a very insecure world with a very insecure communications platform.

13 Sep, 2013

Poll: McAfee should run Microsoft

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TechWeekEurope readers vote McAfee as their favorite tech leader to run Microsoft after Steve Ballmer’s departure. McAfee beats Bill Gates, Alan Sugar of The Apprentice, former Microsoft CTO and Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, all of whom scored five percent of the vote or less.

10 Sep, 2013

Not dead

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After rumors of his death hit the Internet McAfee tweets that is alive and well.

Followed by:

28 Aug, 2013

How To Be An Eccentric Millionaire

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McAfee releases a follow-up parody video addressing recent events in his life:

In my last video I didn’t have much time to tell you much about myself. The four most popular questions are 1) Did I murder my neighbor in Belize? 2) Was I manufacturing illegal drugs in Central America 3) was I having sex with underage girls, and was I using bath salts. I can answer a resounding no to all three of those questions. Was I really living with seven women in Belize? Well that’s a tricky one. There were, in fact, days when all seven were present.

27 Jun, 2013

Supports Edward Snowden

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McAfee is interviewed by Cavuto on Fox News declaring his support for Edward Snowden and drawing comparisons to his own time on the run.

From my perspective he revealed something that we all knew. We are being spied on by our government. It’s simply that Mr Snowden has put a quantitative value on it…To that extent he’s a hero in telling us what we already knew and making us all face that fact.

John McAfee: I'm Behind Edward Snowden

20 Jun, 2013

How To Uninstall McAfee

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McAfee appears in a parody film, How To Uninstall McAfee Antivirus.

Although I’ve had nothing to do with this company for over 15 years, I still get volumes of mail asking, ‘How do I uninstall this software?’ I have no idea.

How To Uninstall McAfee Antivirus

7 Jan, 2013

Claims he carried out spying operation

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McAfee blogs that he organized a massive spying scheme to infiltrate the digital lives of the rich and powerful in Belize as revenge for a police raid on his home last year. He says that he gifted 75 laptops with keystroke spying software pre-installed to “government employees, police officers, Cabinet Minister’s assistants, girlfriends of powerful men, boyfriends of powerful women.” He claims that he hired 29 operatives to install similar tracking software on computers that targets already owned, sometimes getting close to them with sex. He also supposedly had lackeys join the ranks of two national phone companies to tap phones and get lists of contacts from Belizeans he wanted to keep his eye on. McAfee also arranged to have recorders “hidden under a bed, behind a piece of artwork, inside a pillow, in an old shoe” of government ministers. He claims to have evidence of numerous sexual affairs, the ordering of a murder by the nation’s prime minister and, above all, a Hezbollah trafficking plot to smuggling Lebanese men into the U.S.

Belize is clearly a central player in a larger network whose goal is to infiltrate the U.S. with individuals having links to terrorist organizations.