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I feel like a lot of people in this thread are forgetting he likely killed his neighbor in 2012 and has been on the run since. I mean, sure he built some antiv

I feel like a lot of people in this thread are forgetting he likely killed his neighbor in 2012 and has been on the run since. I mean, sure he built some antivirus software a few decades ago, but I don't think he deserves the eulogies he's getting here. He's not tech's Hunter S. Thompson; he's a murderer who spent the last years of his life screwing over people with crypto scams.

godmode2019 5y ago
You are stating something as fact, something that happened in another country. You are so well informed you watched a documentary and read some news articles. He ran for US president in the last few races. How was he on the run.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  Was he not running away and hiding from various countries’ authorities? Are all the articles making it up?
- jjulius 5y ago
  >McAfee announced via Twitter that he would be continuing his campaign "in exile", following reports that he, his wife, and four of his campaign staff were being indicted for tax-related felonies by the IRS. McAfee indicated that he was in "international waters", and had previously tweeted that he was on his way to Venezuela. The IRS has not commented on the alleged indictments. On June 29, McAfee tweeted that his campaign headquarters had been relocated to Havana, Cuba. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee_2020_presidential_campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee_2020_presidential_...
- dang 5y ago
  Personal attacks like this and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27363797 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27363797 will get you banned here. Please make your substantive points thoughtfully. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- nwsm 5y ago
  What do you mean how was he on the run? He (likely) killed himself to avoid extradition
- duskwuff 5y ago
  > He ran for US president With a campaign slogan of "Don't Vote McAfee". And he failed to win the Libertarian nomination in either 2016 or 2020 -- he barely even placed in the 2020 nomination, winning a grand total of two write-in votes (out of over a thousand). This was never a serious campaign. It was a publicity stunt. > How was he on the run. He conducted his "campaign" from a boat in the Caribbean, and described himself as "in exile". https://www.cnet.com/news/john-mcafee-says-he-has-recruited-hundreds-of-masked-lookalikes-for-his-2020-presidential-campaign/ https://www.cnet.com/news/john-mcafee-says-he-has-recruited-...
alphabetting 5y ago
The Gringo documentary was damning.
- joshmn 5y ago
  IMDB[0] for those wondering. [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6071534/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6071534/
  - prvc 5y ago
    The existence itself of that movie demonstrates that many parties had it in for him.
    - camel_Snake 5y ago
      I honestly can't tell if this is sarcasm or not.
    - syncsynchalt 5y ago
      Much as the existence of The History Channel demonstrates a smear campaign against the third reich, I suppose.
      - celticninja 5y ago
        Well we should probably take into account that the programme was made for entertainment purposes and not as evidence as part of a trial. Much in the same way that reality TV is edited to make it more entertaining, this was probably produced in such a way to emphasize outrageous behaviour and the truth would have been less important.
      - aaron695 5y ago
        Hard to know how Ancient Aliens on the History channel fits into this. Documentaries like money?
    - babypuncher 5y ago
      This is not uncommon when you are both a notorious asshole and wealthy enough to make it a problem for everyone else
uncletammy 5y ago
> I feel like a lot of people in this thread are forgetting he likely killed his neighbor in 2012 and has been on the run since. In America, we're supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty. It's a shame it really only takes an accusation.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- chris11 5y ago
  > we're supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty. The legal system should presume innocence. It's completely reasonable for people have lower standards for assuming guilt.
  - colordrops 5y ago
    In general yes, but it takes on a different form when the person is an eccentric that has very publicly challenged powerful authorities and has been both the source and target of disinformation campaigns.
    - chris11 5y ago
      He was accused of making bath salts, and he was reported to be involved with prostitutes and much younger women. His reported statements seem to confirm that, not deny that. I probably won't describe someone as evil for committing victimless crimes. But MPDV is a hard drug that's connected to serious, graphic crimes. I believe he was involved with trafficked women in third-party countries, that's rape. So I easily believe both the murder and rape accusations.
      - colordrops 5y ago
        > He was accused of making bath salts, and he was reported to be involved with prostitutes and much younger women. His reported statements seem to confirm that, not deny that. Open and shut case then. So unattributed "reported" anecdotes on the internet are all it takes these days, huh. No wonder it's so easy to smear and bury people. Everyone here on HN is so strict about online security and providence and yet assign truth to a story based on anonymous anecdotes.
masklinn 5y ago
> I mean, sure he built some antivirus software a few decades ago, but I don't think he deserves the eulogies he's getting here. Surely having built an antivirus us corroborating evidence of evil intent? I find it unlikely that the product he created less damage to computers and user productivity than what it protected them from, especially in the last 15 years or do.
- babypuncher 5y ago
  The court of public opinion does not operate on the same rules as a court of law. Most people still believe OJ "did it" even though he was found innocent. In a just judicial system, the accused must be proven guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt", but the general public are not beholden to such stringent requirements. People are allowed to evaluate the available evidence and come to their own conclusions. In the case of John McAfee, that evidence is pretty damning, and he's done nothing to temper its persuasion.
colordrops 5y ago
Was he convincted of murder, or are you acting as the judge and jury based on third hand media reports?
- anigbrowl 5y ago
  There was a whole civil case about it in the US. So while that doesn't prove he committed murder beyond a reasonable doubt, it means the preponderance of the evidence suggests he did.
- dfsegoat 5y ago
  It is a very small community where this happened (San Pedro, BZ). I'm all for due process, but it was basically an open secret. source: my parents live in the town where it happened.
  - symlinkk 5y ago
    > I’m all for due process, but… Then you’re not for due process
    - CRConrad 5y ago
      This is HN, not a criminal court. One can be all for due process, and propose one's opinion here that someone is guilty. "Due process" does not apply here.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- duskwuff 5y ago
  He was never tried, because he fled to Guatemala to avoid prosecution, then faked a heart attack to delay his extradition.
  - colordrops 5y ago
    Is your assertion that authority figures are to be trusted and fleeing them proves guilt? Is this deference to authority provided to China and Russia as well?
chpmrc 5y ago
> he likely killed his neighbor > he's a murderer who spent the last years of his life screwing over people with crypto scams Well, that escalated quickly.
- space_rock 5y ago
  Credibly accused of rape and multiple murders is the most accurate
nodesocket 5y ago
Here in America we have something called innocent until proven guilty.
- bingidingi 5y ago
  "Innocent until proven guilty" does not mean "Abandon critical thought until a judge tells you otherwise" — this guy caught himself up in crimes literally everywhere he went... and this was after fleeing from a $25m judgement against him. It seems a bit daft to think "gee, he probably did nothing wrong" simply because of how the American legal system is designed.
  - babypuncher 5y ago
    > It seems a bit daft to think "gee, he probably did nothing wrong" simply because of how the American legal system is designed. It's worse than that. People are saying "gee, he probably did nothing wrong" simply because he avoided seeing any trial by fleeing the countries he is wanted in.
- handrous 5y ago
  It is absurd to apply that to individual, or even social, judgement. We don't actually pretend to be ignorant and blind of a person's probable or apparent misdeeds if they haven't been proven in a court of law, nor should we. If, for instance, I notice a couple small, expensive items go missing each time my cousin visits, I'm not going to say "oh well, better not tell anyone else he's probably a thief and I'd better keep inviting him over and leaving him unattended, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law after all". That'd be silly, and acting that way to such an absolute adherence to that principle would be downright anti-social. If he's later convicted and my family finds out I'd noticed years ago, but not warned them because he hadn't been convicted yet, and so he stole things from them because I didn't warn them, they'd justly be pissed off at me. Or, what, are we suddenly not allowed to judge people's apparent behavior & deeds as soon as they're criminal, but free to before that? That doesn't make much sense either. But clearly we can form and share judgements about behavior that's not criminal, and that's fine. If it gets too serious, though, then we have to stop unless a conviction occurs? Huh?
ssully 5y ago
I am hoping it's a case of people just being ignorant of his life after exiting the software world. The guy left a pretty horrible path of destruction. Hope his victims have some small amount of closure from this, because they won't be getting it from the legal system anymore.
res0nat0r 5y ago
Folks want to make him out as a nerd/tech hero and pretend all of the downward spiral stuff that he did never happened just to keep their conscience clean.

godmode2019 5y ago

You are stating something as fact, something that happened in another country. You are so well informed you watched a documentary and read some news articles. He ran for US president in the last few races. How was he on the run.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
Was he not running away and hiding from various countries’ authorities? Are all the articles making it up?
jjulius 5y ago
>McAfee announced via Twitter that he would be continuing his campaign "in exile", following reports that he, his wife, and four of his campaign staff were being indicted for tax-related felonies by the IRS. McAfee indicated that he was in "international waters", and had previously tweeted that he was on his way to Venezuela. The IRS has not commented on the alleged indictments. On June 29, McAfee tweeted that his campaign headquarters had been relocated to Havana, Cuba. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee_2020_presidential_campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee_2020_presidential_...
dang 5y ago
Personal attacks like this and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27363797 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27363797 will get you banned here. Please make your substantive points thoughtfully. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
nwsm 5y ago
What do you mean how was he on the run? He (likely) killed himself to avoid extradition
duskwuff 5y ago
> He ran for US president With a campaign slogan of "Don't Vote McAfee". And he failed to win the Libertarian nomination in either 2016 or 2020 -- he barely even placed in the 2020 nomination, winning a grand total of two write-in votes (out of over a thousand). This was never a serious campaign. It was a publicity stunt. > How was he on the run. He conducted his "campaign" from a boat in the Caribbean, and described himself as "in exile". https://www.cnet.com/news/john-mcafee-says-he-has-recruited-hundreds-of-masked-lookalikes-for-his-2020-presidential-campaign/ https://www.cnet.com/news/john-mcafee-says-he-has-recruited-...

alphabetting 5y ago

The Gringo documentary was damning.

joshmn 5y ago
IMDB[0] for those wondering. [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6071534/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6071534/
- prvc 5y ago
  The existence itself of that movie demonstrates that many parties had it in for him.
  - camel_Snake 5y ago
    I honestly can't tell if this is sarcasm or not.
  - syncsynchalt 5y ago
    Much as the existence of The History Channel demonstrates a smear campaign against the third reich, I suppose.
    - celticninja 5y ago
      Well we should probably take into account that the programme was made for entertainment purposes and not as evidence as part of a trial. Much in the same way that reality TV is edited to make it more entertaining, this was probably produced in such a way to emphasize outrageous behaviour and the truth would have been less important.
    - aaron695 5y ago
      Hard to know how Ancient Aliens on the History channel fits into this. Documentaries like money?
  - babypuncher 5y ago
    This is not uncommon when you are both a notorious asshole and wealthy enough to make it a problem for everyone else

uncletammy 5y ago

> I feel like a lot of people in this thread are forgetting he likely killed his neighbor in 2012 and has been on the run since. In America, we're supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty. It's a shame it really only takes an accusation.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
chris11 5y ago
> we're supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty. The legal system should presume innocence. It's completely reasonable for people have lower standards for assuming guilt.
- colordrops 5y ago
  In general yes, but it takes on a different form when the person is an eccentric that has very publicly challenged powerful authorities and has been both the source and target of disinformation campaigns.
  - chris11 5y ago
    He was accused of making bath salts, and he was reported to be involved with prostitutes and much younger women. His reported statements seem to confirm that, not deny that. I probably won't describe someone as evil for committing victimless crimes. But MPDV is a hard drug that's connected to serious, graphic crimes. I believe he was involved with trafficked women in third-party countries, that's rape. So I easily believe both the murder and rape accusations.
    - colordrops 5y ago
      > He was accused of making bath salts, and he was reported to be involved with prostitutes and much younger women. His reported statements seem to confirm that, not deny that. Open and shut case then. So unattributed "reported" anecdotes on the internet are all it takes these days, huh. No wonder it's so easy to smear and bury people. Everyone here on HN is so strict about online security and providence and yet assign truth to a story based on anonymous anecdotes.

masklinn 5y ago

> I mean, sure he built some antivirus software a few decades ago, but I don't think he deserves the eulogies he's getting here. Surely having built an antivirus us corroborating evidence of evil intent? I find it unlikely that the product he created less damage to computers and user productivity than what it protected them from, especially in the last 15 years or do.

babypuncher 5y ago
The court of public opinion does not operate on the same rules as a court of law. Most people still believe OJ "did it" even though he was found innocent. In a just judicial system, the accused must be proven guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt", but the general public are not beholden to such stringent requirements. People are allowed to evaluate the available evidence and come to their own conclusions. In the case of John McAfee, that evidence is pretty damning, and he's done nothing to temper its persuasion.

colordrops 5y ago

Was he convincted of murder, or are you acting as the judge and jury based on third hand media reports?

anigbrowl 5y ago
There was a whole civil case about it in the US. So while that doesn't prove he committed murder beyond a reasonable doubt, it means the preponderance of the evidence suggests he did.
dfsegoat 5y ago
It is a very small community where this happened (San Pedro, BZ). I'm all for due process, but it was basically an open secret. source: my parents live in the town where it happened.
- symlinkk 5y ago
  > I’m all for due process, but… Then you’re not for due process
  - CRConrad 5y ago
    This is HN, not a criminal court. One can be all for due process, and propose one's opinion here that someone is guilty. "Due process" does not apply here.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
duskwuff 5y ago
He was never tried, because he fled to Guatemala to avoid prosecution, then faked a heart attack to delay his extradition.
- colordrops 5y ago
  Is your assertion that authority figures are to be trusted and fleeing them proves guilt? Is this deference to authority provided to China and Russia as well?

chpmrc 5y ago

> he likely killed his neighbor > he's a murderer who spent the last years of his life screwing over people with crypto scams Well, that escalated quickly.

space_rock 5y ago
Credibly accused of rape and multiple murders is the most accurate

nodesocket 5y ago

Here in America we have something called innocent until proven guilty.

bingidingi 5y ago
"Innocent until proven guilty" does not mean "Abandon critical thought until a judge tells you otherwise" — this guy caught himself up in crimes literally everywhere he went... and this was after fleeing from a $25m judgement against him. It seems a bit daft to think "gee, he probably did nothing wrong" simply because of how the American legal system is designed.
- babypuncher 5y ago
  > It seems a bit daft to think "gee, he probably did nothing wrong" simply because of how the American legal system is designed. It's worse than that. People are saying "gee, he probably did nothing wrong" simply because he avoided seeing any trial by fleeing the countries he is wanted in.
handrous 5y ago
It is absurd to apply that to individual, or even social, judgement. We don't actually pretend to be ignorant and blind of a person's probable or apparent misdeeds if they haven't been proven in a court of law, nor should we. If, for instance, I notice a couple small, expensive items go missing each time my cousin visits, I'm not going to say "oh well, better not tell anyone else he's probably a thief and I'd better keep inviting him over and leaving him unattended, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law after all". That'd be silly, and acting that way to such an absolute adherence to that principle would be downright anti-social. If he's later convicted and my family finds out I'd noticed years ago, but not warned them because he hadn't been convicted yet, and so he stole things from them because I didn't warn them, they'd justly be pissed off at me. Or, what, are we suddenly not allowed to judge people's apparent behavior & deeds as soon as they're criminal, but free to before that? That doesn't make much sense either. But clearly we can form and share judgements about behavior that's not criminal, and that's fine. If it gets too serious, though, then we have to stop unless a conviction occurs? Huh?

ssully 5y ago

I am hoping it's a case of people just being ignorant of his life after exiting the software world. The guy left a pretty horrible path of destruction. Hope his victims have some small amount of closure from this, because they won't be getting it from the legal system anymore.

res0nat0r 5y ago

Folks want to make him out as a nerd/tech hero and pretend all of the downward spiral stuff that he did never happened just to keep their conscience clean.