[HN Gopher] John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court a... ___________________________________________________________________ John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US Author : ews Score : 1148 points Date : 2021-06-23 19:36 UTC (3 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.bbc.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com) | rozab wrote: | Interview with Jena Friedman: | | https://youtu.be/tfe4Fjf3sds | johneth wrote: | I only wish it was longer. | rozab wrote: | Well lucky you! https://youtu.be/i0dhBGZgJnk | drummer wrote: | Awesome. The man had a wonderful sense of humor. | andyxor wrote: | McAffee didn't kill himself | jszymborski wrote: | From DeepL: | | > McAfee anti-virus founder John McAfee commits suicide in a | Barcelona prison | | > The antivirus founder was arrested at El Prat airport and was | awaiting extradition to the United States for tax evasion. | | > The founder of McAfee antivirus, John McAfee, has been found | dead this afternoon in his cell in Brians 2 prison, in Sant | Esteve de Sesrovires (Barcelona), according to police sources. | The Mossos are investigating what happened, and everything points | to a suicide, according to the Department of Justice. McAfee was | pending extradition to the United States after being arrested by | the National Police at El Prat airport. | | > McAfee, 75 years old, was being held in Module 1 of the Brians | 1 penitentiary center. The prison guards, who found him dead in | his cell, and the prison medical services intervened to perform | resuscitation maneuvers, according to the Department of Justice, | but were unable to save his life. | | > The controversial antivirus founder was arrested on October 3, | 2020 at the airport of El Prat, when he was about to take a plane | to Turkey. The arrest came at the request of the US justice | system, which accuses McAfee of evading millions of dollars in | taxes from profits allegedly obtained from activities such as | cryptocurrency trading. The judge of the Audiencia Nacional Jose | de la Mata ordered his imprisonment, and his extradition to the | United States was already planned. | ignoramous wrote: | English translation by Google (via archive.is): | https://archive.is/pxc4H | prvc wrote: | Is there currently any information out there as to the cause of | his death? | shimonabi wrote: | I once actually paid real money to read a short story about his | adventures in Belize. | | He had a good run. | [deleted] | stevespang wrote: | Wow, like Aaron Swartz, McAfee gave his "final middle finger" to | the US Gov't. - - now he is a martyr. | dang wrote: | We changed the URL from | https://elpais.com/economia/2021-06-23/el-fundador-del-antiv... | to the most neutral English-language article that was easy to | Google. | yarcob wrote: | The new URL is not available from EU | mellosouls wrote: | Not available to European readers. | | Alternative examples here: | | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57589822 | | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/23/john-mcafee-... | dang wrote: | Thanks to you both for letting me know. Let's go with the BBC | link for now. (URL changed from | https://www.nbc4i.com/news/u-s-world/john-mcafee-found- | dead-...) | mc32 wrote: | Good or bad, what a sad ending to a colorful life. | | The guy was troubled and had many shortcomings, but he was | colorful and also achieved success and arguably was one of the | seminal figures in the nascent AV industry. | | Sad to see his fall from grace and into a world of extravagance, | deceit and cheating (taxes) and, if allegations true, even worse; | then to end it on the floor of a jail -all by his own hands. | smoldesu wrote: | John McAfee is to Terry Davis what Jim Carry is to Adam Sandler | dang wrote: | Please don't do this here. | gkoberger wrote: | I mean, he very likely killed his neighbor in 2012... so I feel | like "colorful" undermines how much of a monster he's been for | over a decade. | cpursley wrote: | Why did he kill his neighbor? | MauranKilom wrote: | According to news story: McAffee's dogs kept terrorizing | people on the beach, neighbor poisoned dogs, McAffee hired | hitman to torture and kill neighbor. | mc32 wrote: | There were some very disturbing allegations against him | --which is why I included his fall from grace and the good or | bad. | | I would just add some skepticism to the charges only because | the police down there can be corrupt and or inept and subject | to bribery and so on. I don't know if there has been an | independent international inquiry into the matter. | | Anyway, I think it's sad to see people when they throw away | all the earned achievements in such a debauched way. | seppin wrote: | The good: creating anti-virus software that crashed your | work machine once a day. | | The bad: murder and rape. | | I don't think those things even remotely cancel each other | out. | mrtksn wrote: | If you are rich enough you are eccentric and colorful. | heliodor wrote: | Money enables what's already there. | jl6 wrote: | In pecunia veritas. | teach wrote: | "He's mad?" "Sort of mad. But mad with lots of money." "Ah, | then he can't be mad. I've been around; if a man has lots | of money he's just eccentric." | | -- Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic | mrosett wrote: | The obvious point you're making is about a double standard | -- rich people are unfairly given more slack than others. | But an alternative framing amounts to evaluating a method | by its results -- basically saying "I don't know why you're | behaving that way, but for reasons I don't understand it | seems to work for you." That obviously falls apart if you | can cleanly separate their wealth/financial success from | their behavior e.g. because they inherited the money. | [deleted] | mrtksn wrote: | I was actually referring to the slack given to him for | apparent murder and putting the police force on a | payroll. | | "killing your neighbor, bribing the police and never | serving a single day for it? What an eccentric person you | are" | vmception wrote: | The slack has a compounding effect | | Like, sure public perception isn't immediately bad when | someone is perceived as wealthy | | But the immediate and long term consequences are very | different whether people went along with it or not | | People can have louder and wilder public opinions when | they aren't beholden to current/future employment or even | advertising dollars | | Even convicted people that do not need employment are | able to just go back to whatever they were doing. They | are not marginalized. | | Even before conviction they can pay fines and settlements | and make it orders of magnitude more expensive for | prosecution to even mount a case | prvc wrote: | You're saying "likely" as a hedge, when in fact you are | instead merely expressing an opinion, without any knowledge | of the actual numerical likelihood of such an event having | happened. | Tenoke wrote: | What numerical value? He either did it or didn't. Likely is | an expression on the subjective probability based on the | information they have. | bdamm wrote: | What subjective probability is at play? None of us were | there, or even in court. Maybe something very traumatic | to Mr. McAfee happened that day. Would that inform some | of his later recklessness? | Tenoke wrote: | I roll a dice ask you to guess if it landed on 4 while | telling you it didn't land on 5. Your subjective | probability of it being 4 is 20% even if you weren't | there when I rolled it. | prvc wrote: | What is the value of the poster's feelings about this, | when we can rely on actual information instead? Appending | "likely" to the statement is just a way to dress up a | baseless opinion in the garb of objectivity. | brainfog wrote: | The amount of pedantry and over the top literalism in your | comment gave me an aneurism. | tptacek wrote: | But it didn't _really_ give you an aneurysm, _did it???_. | skidnews wrote: | Knowing the "actual" numerical likelihood is not necessary | to deem something "likely" or not. | | I will likely take a shit tomorrow, but cannot say so with | certainty and lack the "actual numerical likelihood." | | MacAfee fled the country after his neighbor was shot, and | was wanted by police for questioning. Let's not get cute | with metaphysical discussions about hedging bets and | "actual numerical likehoods" lol. | anigbrowl wrote: | 51% | steego wrote: | I believe that's how most people in society invoke a | numerically void word like the word "likely". | | Call my cynical, but time and experience has taught me that | people do not back up qualifying words with the appropriate | level of mathematical rigor. | | It's as if they want to express an opinion without doing | the leg work or providing any citations. | | Had he invested the time to calculate an estimate of | likelihood, I'm willing to bet an estimate or confidence | interval would have been parenthetically inserted into his | remarks. | | That's what my experience tells me. YMMV | BitwiseFool wrote: | "people do not back up qualifying words with the | appropriate level of mathematical rigor." | | To be fair, how in the world am I supposed to calculate | such things and provide a satisfactory number? | | The vast majority of my conversations and discourse don't | require or benefit from giving a range or specific value | to such words. Would the preceding sentence be better if | I said 90%, 95%, 99.5% instead of 'vast majority'? And to | be honest, most people - especially myself - aren't at | all accurate with probability estimates, let alone | calculations. | X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: | Would you have preferred the poster express a specific | probability that they hold their belief at? | jb775 wrote: | Guilty until proven innocent? | txsoftwaredev wrote: | And if the ladies stories about his hammock usage is true... | joering2 wrote: | [I stand corrected] | ceejayoz wrote: | It hasn't been "John's software" since 1994. | boomboomsubban wrote: | So people don't have to look that up, some women claimed he | liked seemingly consensual scat. Not really comparable to | alleged murder. | kingsuper20 wrote: | lol. I had to look that up. | | Maybe he hung out with Chuck Berry too much. | prvc wrote: | That makes him a monster? | [deleted] | bennyp101 wrote: | I mean, is that 100% true? | dnh44 wrote: | If I remember the story correctly the neighbour killed his | dogs. That's a pretty strong motive. | Vadoff wrote: | John Wick agrees | Razengan wrote: | Sounds like someone else with the same first name and | motive. | oh_sigh wrote: | Actually, John killed his own dogs after he believed they | were poisoned by his neighbor. Were they really poisoned, | or was that just one of his psychotic delusions(like his | claim that Belizean officials were out to kill him but | killed Faull by mistake)? | | We'll never know. But we do know that his dogs were | allowed to run free in a giant pack and attacked at least | 6 people (probably more, but they may be locals and not | ex-pats/tourists whose claims are more likely to be | reported on) | cwkoss wrote: | He claimed that he gifted laptops to the Belizean | government pre-loaded with spyware and alleged to have | found evidence that multiple top officials were engaged | in drug and human trafficking. | | If true, would certainly be a motive for those officials. | FullyFunctional wrote: | This is how conspiracies are created. There's no evidence | and strong motive for him to create this conspiracy. | | I'm a big fan of Occam's razor and in this case the | simplest explanation, in light of _evidence_ of which | there was plenty in the documentary, is that he was not | truthful. | oh_sigh wrote: | Weird he never provided any proof of his claims about | that. You would think that if he was invested enough to | put his own life in risk(according to him) to find out | the extent of corruption among officials in Belize, that | he would, perhaps, release the information in some manner | instead of just pretending like it never existed. | | And what was the thinking of the officials who allegedly | received the laptops? "Oh no, the man who gave us free | laptops has been reading everything we've done on these | laptops. Let's plan his murder on these laptops now. | Don't worry about finding his address, it's just some | home north of San Pedro right? Just go kill a guy and it | must be John" | swader999 wrote: | He mentioned in his tweets a lot will be released upon | his death. We'll see I guess. | ozten wrote: | Even without being found guilty of murder... if you watch | that documentary he hires very unsavory characters to be | his armed guards 24x7. | | You are one of the richest people on the planet and you | choose to be an armed bully on a small island with a lot of | poverty to exploit. | | He could literally have any lifestyle he wanted. | fastball wrote: | He hadn't been one of the richest people on the planet in | more than a decade. | | Definitely did not have enough money for literally any | lifestyle, especially seeing as it appears he owed a lot | of money in back taxes. | anigbrowl wrote: | Probably (by which I refer to the standard of judgement in | the civil suit). https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/20/mca | fee_25m_lawsuit_ne... | bennyp101 wrote: | Ok. | | _hand wavey_ Tasered is not torture, else surely cops | wouldn 't use it? And he poisoned 4 dogs, people get | rather angry about their pets. But yea, killing over it | is extreme. | | Still, seems an odd thing to extradite him for. Maybe | more to the story which we will never know. | spacechild1 wrote: | > Tasered is not torture, else surely cops wouldn't use | it? | | You know, a cop would taser you once for a few seconds. | That poor guy got tasered repeatedly, including his | genitalia. How is this not torture? | Miner49er wrote: | > You know, a cop would taser you once for a few seconds. | | Most of the time. Cops are known to torture people with | tasers in the US by using them for long periods of time | or repeatedly. | panopticon wrote: | And on the genitalia too. There was that Chicago police | squad that tortured suspects with a cattle prod to the | testicles to coerce confessions. | cbsmith wrote: | > Tasered is not torture, else surely cops wouldn't use | it? | | You see a lot of Taser marks on people's genitals? | | Cops have used clubs for years, that doesn't mean you | can't torture someone with a club. | [deleted] | ska wrote: | > Tasered is not torture, else surely cops wouldn't use | it? | | The history of trying to define things like "torture" as | what the "good guys" don't do has a long an storied past, | none of it successful. | seppin wrote: | And a long history of probable sexual assault / rape. | luhego wrote: | Even though he lived a cuestionable life. He was a free man until | the end. I respect him for that. | eganist wrote: | Technically still a free man. No convictions against him as | related to the extradition request. | msbarnett wrote: | > He was a free man until the end. | | He literally died in jail. | mc32 wrote: | Jail is detention before trial, not imprisonment in a | penitentiary. | ornornor wrote: | Isn't the end result the same: you can't go anywhere? I | wouldn't call that free. | msbarnett wrote: | I wouldn't describe being held in custody pending | extradition as "being free". YMMV. | mc32 wrote: | Yes and no. It's not like I'd expect him to carry a | cyanide pill and just as he's about to be arrested | swallows it to be technically correct. | | I think this qualifies "dying free" in spirit since his | death means objection to remaining in custody. | moate wrote: | Just to be clear: We're saying it's admirable to kill | yourself rather than face the consequences of your | illegal behavior? That's what we're respecting in this | thread? | | The man was believed to have committed a litany of | offenses including attacking other humans but "he was so | respectable because he never let them convict him"? | | "Bad rich guy kills himself in pathetic attempt to avoid | justice" would be my preferred headline personally. | DJBunnies wrote: | It is still being held captive against ones will. | pm90 wrote: | Either way it's questionable if he was "free". | luhego wrote: | He lived his life the way he wanted and he even decided how | to die. | casi18 wrote: | its interesting to read reflections of people locked up. very | often they talk of how we are all in our own forms of jail. | freedom is a state of mind. | anonytrary wrote: | Hold on. I talk like this and I'm a free man with a good | job, good friends, and a good life. Sure, it becomes even | more apparent when you are in a cage. But it's true, | everyone really is in a cage of their own making. Even | worse, being in a cage of someone else's making. | res0nat0r wrote: | Everyone seems to forget that he likely had his neighbor | tortured and killed: | https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/20/mcafee_25m_lawsuit_ne... | morelisp wrote: | He also raped a business partner. | haakon wrote: | He's so frequently called "colorful" and "successful". In | fact, he was a nutjob who most likely did unspeakable things | when he wasn't busy doing just terrible things. | toomuchtodo wrote: | Charisma is a helluva drug. | Scoundreller wrote: | so is MDPV. | | John was "stuffmonger" on a drug forum here: | https://www.bluelight.org/xf/threads/hello-and-an-mdpv- | quest... | | A good summary here: https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeRogan/co | mments/8utitu/john_mcafe... | enriquto wrote: | Funniest stuff I've read in years. Lit up my mood a bit | after the bad news. | vernie wrote: | This is a community built around aspiring to be a rich | freak, what do you expect? | ryanmentor wrote: | Though they caged his body, his soul was unchained. | tromp wrote: | Or in english: | | https://nypost.com/2021/06/23/john-mcafee-dies-by-suicide-in... | adrianmonk wrote: | Another English source: | | https://news.yahoo.com/john-mcafee-found-dead-spanish-193256... | eganist wrote: | https://elpais-com.translate.goog/economia/2021-06-23/el-fun... | | Google translate. | neom wrote: | I met John in an Atlanta airport lounge years ago[1]. I | recognized him immediately as I've always admired him, and I | decided to go up to him and tell him as much. He invited me to | sit down, and told him about when I was a teenager in the 90s | learning about tech entrepreneurs at the time, I always thought | he was pretty cool and had good ideas. I told him I respected | him, and that I was sure he'd lived an incredible life and | thanked him for his contributions. He was clearly totally | sloshed(inebriated) and insisted he called his wife so I could | recount the story to her. I did. An hr later I had to leave to | catch my flight, and i asked him where he was going - he said I'd | find out some "pretty crazy shit" about him next week, and that | "the doc was a bunch of BS". Two days later, I read Show Time had | announced "Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee". In the | brief time I spent with him, I have to say he had pretty positive | energy for someone who was portrayed the way he was. | | [1] https://share.getcloudapp.com/p9uAN0jQ | duxup wrote: | It's unfortunate that a lot of things we like about people, | doesn't really go hand in hand for making good choices | otherwise. | api wrote: | He clearly lost his mind at some point. Late John McAfee != | early John McAfee. Heavy drug abuse and alcoholism looks to | have played a role. | | Giving tons of money to a chronic addict (like he got when he | cashed out of his company) can be a death sentence. | jmcgough wrote: | Sometimes drug abuse and alcoholism is just an outcome of | other problems. I wouldn't be shocked to hear that he had | untreated bipolar or something. | njoubert wrote: | Do you have any experience with the stuff you're making such | bold statements about, because I have; and my god did you | oversimplify things. | threatofrain wrote: | Then perhaps you can provide some clarity rather than | alluding to hidden knowledge that you won't show people? | Otherwise what the public has to go on would be John | McAfee's YT and Twitter. | shapefrog wrote: | Tons of money, check Tons of blow, check | | It was pretty simple at the time, blow up the nose, money | to the hooker, repeat and rinse. It only got complicated | when I ran out of money. | cwkoss wrote: | I don't think he lost his mind, but rather decided that it | was more fun to seek attention than credibility. | jbverschoor wrote: | Exactly.. the art of not giving a fuck | lavela wrote: | Seeking attention is an opposite of not giving a fuck. | ahartmetz wrote: | I think not giving a fuck means not caring to appear | respectable in this context. | jonahss wrote: | watch his self-filmed youtube channel and you may change | your mind | rchaud wrote: | Mostly towards the end of his life it would appear. I don't | recall hearing anything about him prior to 2016 and the | run-up in crypto. | mypalmike wrote: | He routinely popped up in the news over the last 20 years | at least. | JohnMcafee wrote: | I remember taking that pic. | Buttons840 wrote: | When you say he was "sloshed" do you mean he was drunk? Or do | you mean he was very pleased with your praise? | diogenesjunior wrote: | bruh: https://i.imgur.com/4Jw7EyE.png | afterburner wrote: | Sloshed means drunk. | arthurcolle wrote: | the former | jiofih wrote: | Not sure why you're downvoted. I was also confused for a | moment - "inebriated with praise" is not an uncommon | expression. | hluska wrote: | Sloshed is a weird word. It means drunk but if you go through | etymology, it started at slush and moved to slosh which was | to splash around in slush. Then somewhere along the lines, | 'slosh' meant to pour without care and make a mess. That | turned into pour alcohol carelessly and become a mess. | Arnavion wrote: | I always thought the association was directly from | "splashing around", as in "you're so drunk that it's like | you've been swimming in the stuff." | neom wrote: | Where I grew up in Scotland, sloshed very specifically | meant you couldn't pour the booze straight anymore, more | than just a bit drunk. However, it's also considered | somewhat polite, I thought... more appropriate when | speaking of the dead. | jwdunne wrote: | That's the meaning in Manchester too. Extreme state of | intoxication by alcohol. Beyond mere "I'm drunk". | heyoni wrote: | The latter | newsclues wrote: | Sloppy drunk was the impression I had. | rcurry wrote: | The sad thing is that our government seems to make a point of | screwing with kooks. I don't care if McAffee owed some taxes - | leave the guy alone, he's obviously unstable, has major | problems with drug and alcohol addiction and all they can do is | try to bring him even lower. Poor guy had major problems even | before the "heroes" of the FBI or the IRS or whatever started | screwing with him. Let the poor guy ride off into the sunset | for Pete's sake. | octopoc wrote: | Reminds me of the movie American Hustle. The government has a | choice of going after criminals who badly hurt a lot of | people or going after the easily-demonized bit players. Guess | which is good for their careers. | Klinky wrote: | The dude was found liable for two people's deaths, and evaded | taxes, like... I dunno. He doesn't seem like that great of a | guy. He seems like a self-centered reckless narcissist | leaving destruction in his wake. | hellbannedguy wrote: | When was he found guilty for the dead neighbor? | | Anyways---you don't poison a guy's dogs. | | (Yea--I know, I'm suspose to be compassionate over rich | dead guys. By rich dead guys, I mean the neighbor who was | constantly complaining over John's dogs whom was found | dead. As far as today, they had no evidence against John.) | | I liked John. I liked he was different than most rich guys. | I painfully remember him stating he doesn't pay taxes. I | remember wishing he didn't say that in a documentary. | tclancy wrote: | Well sure. | | But do it for poor people first. There are a million people | without millions suffering from similar treatment in the US. | rcurry wrote: | Thank you for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it. I | also agree with you. What I'm emphasizing is that our | government prefers to go after weak targets. | | Not sure why you are being downvoted, you make a good | point. | gizdan wrote: | > I don't care if McAffee owed some taxes - leave the guy | alone, he's obviously unstable | | This is ridiculous. Okay so let's leave all the rich people | alone who claim they are unstable. McAfee made millions, from | what I understand, he paid little taxes on that. That's | stupid. I don't care how unstable you are, or how good you | are donating your "fair share". You're still not excused from | paying your taxes. | to1y wrote: | Parent poster meant let's not make him look like a loon and | hound him relentlessly because of it. | gizdan wrote: | As use hugi said, that's exactly what he was, so why | shouldn't we? | hugi wrote: | But he was a loon and a thief/tax cheat | ab737 wrote: | So is Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, etc | rcurry wrote: | Exactly. Thank you. | auggierose wrote: | I guess Google, Facebook and Apple are stupid then too. | gizdan wrote: | Yes. Yes, they absolutely are, and they should be | prosecuted for their tax avoidance. Same with Amazon and | all other companies. I, as lone individual tax payer, | paid _more_ in taxes in the UK than Amazon, Facebook, | Google, and Apple did, probably combined. That is not | okay. | | Edit: evasion > avoidance. | joejerryronnie wrote: | There is a big difference between illegal tax evasion and | leveraging existing tax code to reduce your taxes as much | as possible. | gizdan wrote: | I edited my comment. I meant tax avoidance. | | I totally understand that there is legal means of | essentially not paying taxes. That still does not make it | okay. As I mentioned, I, as a lone tax payer, who made | less then PS100k, paid more in taxes in FAANG combined in | the UK. That FAANG, who made billions. I probably paid | more in the UK than FAANG paid in federal taxes (in the | US) combined. The fact that Bezos was able to claim tax | refunds despite him literally being _the_ richest person | in the world and to hear /read people defending him | because "he legally did so" is absolutely mind boggling. | [deleted] | aplummer wrote: | There is a massive difference between following poorly | written laws correctly and breaking the law. | ezekg wrote: | Yes -- one writes the laws, the other disregards them. | aplummer wrote: | Huh? The government writes the laws, the people elect | them. These laws could say "95% maximum tax bracket" | (They used to) but they don't. There could be a CEO tax, | but there isn't. | jmcgough wrote: | I mean he certainly could afford some good CPAs to | mitigate his tax burden if he wanted to. | [deleted] | Bancakes wrote: | Bezos and McAffee paid about the same amount of taxes. | slg wrote: | That isn't relevant for two reasons: | | 1. Tax evasion and tax avoidance are not the same thing. | | 2. Most people who think McAffee didn't pay enough taxes | probably also believe Bezos doesn't pay enough taxes. | Bancakes wrote: | Tax avoidance is tax evasion in all ways but legal. | ab737 wrote: | Now do Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg... | bilbo0s wrote: | To be fair, you can't really do that because then that lowly | waitress who owes, say, 3 grand because her manager reported | her tips will say, "Why do rich people get off?" | | And she'd be right. | | If you go after anyone, you have to go after everyone in my | view. If anything, you should go soft on the low income | people rather than the wealthy. But on the federal level, | going soft on a famous and wealthy person when you have the | exact same evidence is just not something you can do in a | rule of law society. Particularly in today's environment. You | can do that on a state and local level, but on a federal | level the IRS, FBI and the prosecutors would be crucified. | jeofken wrote: | Correct. These systems can not work the moment the armed | men from the government stop threatening with guns. If | ethics are universal, such immorality as we wouldn't accept | from a family or a democratic HOA, can such behaviour be | acceptable from any other group, larger or smaller. | jasonl99 wrote: | "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the | unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to | himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable | man." | | -- George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman | | I've always used this as an excuse for what might be | considered being weird (at least that's what my family tells | me). | rcurry wrote: | As Hunter Thompson would say, when the going gets weird the | weird turn pro. | stevespang wrote: | Gotta luv Hunter, McAfee was on Hunter's level . . . . | Scoundreller wrote: | Your sketchy looking link which I mistakenly clicked on instead | of copy and pasting into my VM is b0rk. Says "This item has | exceeded its view limit!" | llacb47 wrote: | works for me | IntrepidWorm wrote: | Rebuilt that link for ya, friend. Cheers! | | http://www.5z8.info/racist-message-board_u1s1lj_----- | TAKE.TW... | quenix wrote: | You run a VM just to inspect "sketchy-looking links"? That | sounds like paranoid behavior, if I'm being honest. | Scoundreller wrote: | If anything, not paranoid enough because still tracking. | | This place would be one of the best to hit with a 0day. | Lots of IT people with full admin rights to entire | corporate networks. | jazzyjackson wrote: | Windows 10 pro let's you bring up fresh sandbox with one | click and about 5 seconds to boot, it's really not such a | burden. | | Or maybe people just have temp VMs running anyway, and like | others have said, if you're browsing hacker news on your | work machine you should probably do so with a healthy dose | of paranoia. | CWuestefeld wrote: | This is a thread about John McAfee, after all. | bena wrote: | A healthy paranoia if you grew up with the internet. | | When a link can compromise an entire machine, having a | machine you can literally throw away with no consequence is | nice. | | Hell, I'd wager to say that containers wouldn't be a thing | if it weren't for this kind of behavior. Looking for ways | to build up and destroy VMs even faster. | dwarfsandstuff wrote: | You need a faster computer, man! | toss1 wrote: | My interaction with McAfee was in the pre-internet '80s. I was | called when a nearby international school got hit by a computer | virus spread on floppy disks. Looking for sources of info, | found the "Computer Virus Industry Association". Called, got a | little bit of generic advice, and he mostly asked me to send | sample disks. Turned out that the "CVIA" was basically a | pretext of McAfee trolling for people like me to send samples | for the anti-virus software he was writing. | | Sure, mildly clever ruse, but I always felt that the way it was | done was a bit off - could have been more straightforward. I | guess he thought people would not help him if he didn't use the | pretext. | | Somehow the rest of the story does not surprise me. Making his | millions seems to have given him no peace either. | | RIP | onemoresoop wrote: | I'd argue that making those millions turned his life upside | down, made his life drown in hedonism, eventually taking his | mind and any shred of dignity. Still, RIP John | inovica wrote: | Often meeting your hero's does not go well, so pleased this did | for you :) | shon wrote: | It may seem odd to some, but I think the world was better off | with McAffee alive. I doubt he took his own life. He seems to be | the sort of fellow who would in some way enjoy going to court, | even if only to have his point of view heard. | dccoolgai wrote: | Didn't he always say he had a bunch of "dirt" that was triggered | to release on a coffin switch? Guess we'll find out soon. | aix1 wrote: | There is a documentary about his time in Belize: | | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/18/gringo-dangerou... | chaganated wrote: | big F for my man john mcafee. epsteined in his prime. he will be | missed. | mooseburger wrote: | Getting Epstein "suicide" vibes from this. | xedeon wrote: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609146 | bethecloud wrote: | From McAffee in 2019, "Getting subtle messages from U.S. | officials saying, in effect: "We're coming for you McAfee! We're | going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I | suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd. Check my right arm. " | | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/120086428376625152... | throwkeep wrote: | October, 2020 | | I am content in here. I have friends. | | The food is good. All is well. | | Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault | of mine. | | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/131680121508322509... | ceejayoz wrote: | April, 2021 | | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/138634987054662041. | .. | | > I have been imprisoned in Catalonia nearly 7 months. I | speak no Catalan and little Spanish so human contact is | limited. There are no entertainments - no escape from | loneliness, from emptiness, from myself. | | > This has been the most trying period of my life. | | Turns out prison sucks after a while. | | As for the food, he changed his tune on that, too: | | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/139145553961222553. | .. | | > Most prison food in Spain is indistinguishable from rat | shit in motor oil. The single exception is potato pie, which | is only served on Saturdays. | | > Unfortunately today is Sunday. | ska wrote: | > Turns out prison sucks after a while. | | Sounds like it sucks at the beginning, too. | ibejoeb wrote: | Yeah, and also he was a pretty damn good troll. No doubt he | had a backup plan, and this was probably it. | ceejayoz wrote: | He said he'd eat his dick on live TV if Bitcoin didn't hit | $500k by last year | (https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/887012614131372032, | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/887039604846714881, | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/887024683379544065) | so the track record on predictions... isn't great. | knicholes wrote: | At least he doesn't have to fulfill that promise, albeit | late. | aazaa wrote: | He never made good on this promise: | | https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7qawy/john-mcafee-no-longer... | | Kind of undermines his credibility. | shon wrote: | ;D | jbverschoor wrote: | Tweet from last week: | | "My friends evaporated through fear of association. | | I have nothing. | | Yet, I regret nothing." | 867-5309 wrote: | a great quote -- thanks for this | greyface- wrote: | Link to said tweet: https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status | /140517850671217459... | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: | McAfee is an interesting person but I believe absolutely | nothing that he says. | rmason wrote: | In his last prison interview he said that all his money was | gone, his friends had all abandoned him and yet he regretted | nothing. Sure sounds like a last statement to me. | JohnMcafee wrote: | $WHACKD | VOSgqcSyGdPhGWP wrote: | And in late 2020: "I am content in here. I have friends. The | food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la | Epstein, it will be no fault of mine." | | https://archive.ph/peexn | [deleted] | jahewson wrote: | What you have here is someone ruminating on and obsessing over | themes of suicide. Sadly that's exactly the kind of person who | goes on to fall victim to that behaviour. | okamiueru wrote: | As cynical as it might seem, there is an alternative | possibility: in spite of getting a tattoo saying he would not | kill himself, and in spite of posting a tweet saying he would | not kill himself, he went ahead and killed himself. | willis936 wrote: | An unstable personality that hates the US saying the US | government would stage a suicide is much more likely to | actually kill themselves than your regular run-of-the-mill | evil billionaire with powerful enemies saying nothing about | how they will die. | | I don't think Mcafee really thought things through enough to | come to this conclusion. | madememakeacct wrote: | "I'd never kill myself" is exactly what a suicidal person | _would_ say.. Great post. | willis936 wrote: | They even had it tattoo'd on their arm in a cringey | fashion to show how down-to-Earth and committed to this | plane of existence they were. | meepmorp wrote: | That's like 300% sane! | dragonwriter wrote: | > As cynical as it might seem, there is an alternative | possibility: in spite of getting a tattoo saying he would not | kill himself, and in spite of posting a tweet saying he would | not kill himself, he went ahead and killed himself | | In fact, if you have people who will believe you (either | becuase of who you are or who your target is), and a beef | against someone, and see a confluence of circumstances likely | to lead to a place where suicide is your only way out, why | _wouldn't_ you set them up to take the blame if it got to | that point (especially if you blamed them for the situation | driving in that direction, so you might feel that it was a | lie in only peripheral details, but not grand narrative.) | read_if_gay_ wrote: | That would have been a _very_ long con since he has been | tweeting things like this since 2019. | cwyers wrote: | Well, seeing as 2019 is when he fled the US to avoid | prosecution for tax fraud, it's not like it took a lot of | foresight to say "hrm, maybe the US government will catch | me." | read_if_gay_ wrote: | Still that's quite petty motivation for such a long con. | cwyers wrote: | How is this a long con? It's two years. According to the | indictments he was being extradited for, that's _not the | longest con John McAfee has been involved in_. | dragonwriter wrote: | "Such a long con" kind of assumes that McAfee thought if | he got caught, it would take this long. | dragonwriter wrote: | > That would have been a very long con since he has been | tweeting things like this since 2019. | | He started doing that not long after (or maybe | concurrently with) announcing he was on the run from the | USG in relation to the specific charges that he was | ordered to be extradited to immediately before actually | committing suicide. | smsm42 wrote: | Which poses the question - if you're absolutely sure you're | not going to kill yourself, how could you make sure that | everybody knows it and believes it? Is there a way? | willis936 wrote: | Reliable (and potentially even publicly accessible) | surveillance. Just livestream every moment of your life and | keep logs in multiple locations. | prometheus76 wrote: | How does that work if you are in prison? | willis936 wrote: | You can't. That's the job of the prison. This is why | people get upset when there is a "CCTV malfunction" when | high profile prisoners supposedly kill themselves. | [deleted] | lrae wrote: | Not an option though if you're jailed in Barcelona. | smsm42 wrote: | Well, unless you get taken to prison where you will be | surveilled, but the surveillance will fail at exactly the | moment you committed suicide, mysteriously, and all | footage would disappear after a technician makes an | innocent mistake while backing it up. | willis936 wrote: | Right, so then obviously in that case there was foul | play. | | Is that what happened here or are people believing what | they want to believe rather than striving to perceive a | fact-based reality? | the-dude wrote: | Ehhh, pretty sure he is referring to Epstein. | smsm42 wrote: | > obviously in that case there was foul play. | | But is it? What kind of foul play - is it prison | management hiding the fact they had somebody kill himself | on their watch (which is professional incompetence), or | the other one? | mjsir911 wrote: | I believe they are referencing to how Epstein died, which | was ruled a "suicide" | Notorious_BLT wrote: | "So obviously in that case there was foul play." | | Correct, and the events that user described is exactly | what happened to Jeffery Epstein, and yet somehow we have | no public information about who is responsible, and the | official story is suicide. | bingidingi wrote: | Put someone in a room and prevent them from sleeping for a | few days and I'm pretty sure you could convince anyone to | kill themselves. There's no absolute certainty that can | ever be provided. | slim wrote: | That's murder, not suicide. I think you made a point, but | not the one you thought you made | moate wrote: | I mean, I haven't done the analysis myself but "I'll tell | this story so that if I take the cowardly way out my | reputation will still be protected and the conspiracy | theorists will keep my legend alive forever" has a > 0% | chance of being the motivator here. | fridif wrote: | The better questions are, did he deserve to be imprisoned and | did he deserve to die? | babypuncher wrote: | Whether or not someone deserves to die doesn't seem like | much of a question when the cause of death is intentionally | self-inflicted. | dntrkv wrote: | > did he deserve to be imprisoned | | I mean, that's kinda what happens when you don't pay your | taxes and run from the government. He would've gotten a | trial if he didn't commit suicide. | | > did he deserve to die | | No, I don't think anyone deserves to die. But, the most | likely case here is he did kill himself, in which case, | it's kinda on him. | tiernano wrote: | > No, I don't think anyone deserves to die. | | technically, everyone dies... the question should be, did | he deserve to be killed, if he was (not saying he was) or | did he deserve to think that was his only way out? | vesinisa wrote: | You are aware that he was wanted for murder in Belize? | growt wrote: | But somewhat ironically that was not what he was | imprisoned for. | zamalek wrote: | For anyone wondering: "the Spanish High Court approved of | his extradition to the US on tax evasion charges." [which | is why he was imprisoned] | jacquesm wrote: | It worked for Al Capone. | chris11 wrote: | No, the best outcome would have been a trial with a fair | outcome. | | But he went down to South America, started making drugs, | and got accused of rape and murder. The legal system should | assume innocence before trial, though in my personal | opinion he was an evil man. | stickfigure wrote: | You got the continent wrong. | | I don't have much of an opinion about McAfee, but it bugs | me a bit when people who know less than I do have | stronger opinions. | okamiueru wrote: | > You got the continent wrong. | | I'm not the person you replied to, but, do you mean they | got the continent wrong because Belize is in Central | America, and thus technically North America? Seems like | an unnecessary nitpick. | | If you thought he mistook Spain to be in South America, | then, maybe the guidelines here would be of help. From my | own experience, it is better to not assume people know | less than you. | | Then again, maybe you are referring to something else, in | which case it would be nice to know what. | beebeepka wrote: | What ecil did he do? Take drugs? | viro wrote: | he was wanted for murder in Belize.... | beebeepka wrote: | I know that. Did he do it, or did he just piss the wrong | US "officias". Downvote all you want. This guy clearly | did not kill himself | viro wrote: | you know his life was basically over right? He was 75 | years old . He was going to jail for at least 20 years. | beebeepka wrote: | That doesn't make him a murderer or suicidal. | viro wrote: | bruh ... who wouldn't be a lil suicidal when they find | out they are going to jail for the rest of their life. | beebeepka wrote: | But you just said he was 75 years old. That's not a lot | of jail time. | | Some guys are suicided, others simply decide to change | their gender in jail. If you don't see how this works, | then I have nothing more to say to you | weare138 wrote: | I don't think anyone here is arguing he deserved to die, | but he definitely wasn't innocent either. | bingidingi wrote: | Those really aren't good questions at all. | | He was imprisoned awaiting extradition for tax evasion | charges, so guilt wasn't really determined yet. He did flee | the US to avoid these charges and has since racked up a | considerable trail of charges from foreign governments. | | We'll probably never see direct evidence of his death. But | suicide is plausible, given his history, I'd certainly | believe he'd contemplate suicide when faced with a life in | prison. | SquishyPanda23 wrote: | > did he deserve to die? | | Is there a coherent answer to this in the case of suicide? | | I feel like we enter a liar's paradox since the entity who | decides whether you deserve to die is yourself. | fridif wrote: | Aaron Swartz? | vbo wrote: | Why is this downvoted? Was he actually convicted? | tylersmith wrote: | He was in jail pending extradition hearings. Extradition | was approved today and he was soon to be relocated to the | US to stand trial. | HNfriend234 wrote: | True but it is also possible that he was assisnated. People | get assisnate all the time for political reasons. | prvc wrote: | He could have killed himself anyway--- that is _obvious_ , | but his past statements still need to be taken seriously, and | extra care and doubt need to be applied to the reported | story. | fastball wrote: | _Do_ the past statements of a clearly unhinged individual | need to be taken seriously? | whydoyoucare wrote: | Unless you are very sure that McAfee was "clearly | unhinged individual", it is a strong statement and ad | hominem. Doesn't help add to the discussion than mere | gossip. | fastball wrote: | The man said he would eat his own dick on TV[1] if | Bitcoin didn't hit $500k in 2020. There are credible | reports he paid women to shit in his mouth from a | hammock. There is his entire twitter feed. I am _very_ | sure McAfee was a "clearly unhinged individual", and if | you're not I'd like to know what kind of evidence you | need. | | [1] http://dickening.com/ | StevenRayOrr wrote: | We don't have to go any further than the tweet that | started this thread: McAfee claimed to be "getting subtle | messages" from officials in the American government | threatening to kill him. | | He was a clearly unhinged individual. | read_if_gay_ wrote: | Nice circular logic. | oauea wrote: | Yes. | fastball wrote: | So every statement should always be taken seriously? Is | there no minimum bar of credibility that should be met? | StevenRayOrr wrote: | > his past statements still need to be taken seriously, and | extra care and doubt need to be applied to the reported | story. | | Why? The fact that he had a paranoid fantasy of being | murdered by the US government doesn't make it so. I don't | have to take extra care with the ramblings of conspiracy | theorists with a long history of outright bullshit. | Hamuko wrote: | > _his past statements still need to be taken seriously_ | | Like the one where he promised to eat his own penis? | moralestapia wrote: | As they saying goes, they dig their own graves. | colordrops wrote: | It is indeed an alternative possiblity, but the possiblity | that he was murdered should not be discounted. Murdering | those that challenge authority has been happening since the | dawn of history and nothing has fundamentally changed. Well | other than needing to make it look like a suicide since | modern society likes to believe it's enlightened. | notafraudster wrote: | McAfee was an obviously unhinged lunatic peddling fringe | nonsense. You can make an argument that cryptocurrency | poses a threat to the state, but a 75 year old man who | spends 16 hours a day rambling on twitter about fringe | stuff does not. The available evidence points strongly to a | deeply mentally ill guy facing life in prison and killing | himself. | dragonwriter wrote: | > You can make an argument that cryptocurrency poses a | threat to the state, but a 75 year old man who spends 16 | hours a day rambling on twitter about fringe stuff does | not. | | Unless they are, e.g., also head of state and government, | but that's not an issue with McAfee, though its not | unheard of. | colechristensen wrote: | Unhinged folks can be murdered by state actors outside | the law too... | | This is one of those situations which may well just be | impossible to unravel in a satisfactory way. | | In fact, if you're clever and in intelligence, a good way | to cover your tracks and generally be nefarious is to | provide a reason for your desired outcome to happen. In | other words, do what you can to encourage the unhinged | tendencies of your target so that they might actually do | it themselves or at least it will seem more plausible | that they did. | colordrops wrote: | "obviously an unhinged lunatic". That's a very strong | statement that doesn't add to the discussion other than | to trigger fear of association among commenters here. | Facts are always better than ad hominem. | the-dude wrote: | > but a 75 year old man who spends 16 hours a day | rambling on twitter about fringe stuff does not | | Are we still talking about McAfee here? I am coveted. | twiddling wrote: | or he was mentally unstable and not being treated for | that... | Me1000 wrote: | It should absolutely be discounted, there's literally no | evidence suggesting he was murdered. | | He was about to be extradited, the US Government was well | on their way to making an example of him. There was no | incentive to murder him. | gpt5 wrote: | Also of note - suicide in the US is extremely difficult | if you've been identified as someone with intention. You | get checked on every 15 minutes, including at night | (which can be a torture by itself) | 1-6 wrote: | There's a saying, you can't escape death and taxes. | onemoresoop wrote: | You can escape taxes with death though | chadlavi wrote: | yep, mental illness sure is sad. | aeturnum wrote: | The trait that carried McAfee furthest was, in hindsight, his | incredible talent as a hype man. He effectively created an | image as a larger-than-life figure who those in power were | afraid of and wished to stop. | | I have no trouble believing that people wanted him dead in | general. He was credibly accused of both murder and sexual | assault[1]. I am sure he was annoying to many officials, but | most of the reports of death threats around McAfee were those | experienced by the people _he_ disliked. | | I think that the simplest and most straightforward explanation | is that this tweet (and tattoo) were another promotional stunt | for someone trying to get out of the charges against him. It | would be another in a long line of claims McAfee made on | various topics which had the effect of, however briefly, | centering himself in the eye of the public. He wasn't adverse | to extreme actions and I have no trouble believing that he | would both get that tattoo and decide later to end his own | life. | | [1] https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/12/12887124/john-mcafee- | rape... | elisaado wrote: | Because twitter seems to be rate limiting access to this tweet | ("Something went wrong, try reloading"), here is an archived | version | | https://web.archive.org/web/20201005231441/https://twitter.c... | BTCOG wrote: | This. Gonna be grand when he faked his death and paid off a | couple prison guards 10+ BTC to escape and shows up elsewhere | in a year or two. One can hope, anyway. Plus, he had to get out | of eating his own dick. | | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/131680121508322509... | dieortin wrote: | I don't think prisons in Spain work like that. | babypuncher wrote: | Why would one hope for him to escape justice? | shapefrog wrote: | Because it is cruel and unusual to punish someone for | hyperbole, severing a mans penis and making them eat it is | not justice. | dntrkv wrote: | Why would anyone want him dead? I don't think anyone cared | about him that much. | weare138 wrote: | This. The guy was just some drug-addled tech industry has | been that shilled crypto scams and dodged his taxes. I think | all those bathsalts were making him paranoid. | boomboomsubban wrote: | If people had reason to kill him, it would likely be that he | knew scandalous information. The public wouldn't really know | that people cared about him or what that information was. | | I have no idea if McAfee had such knowledge, but "I don't | know any reason why someone would kill him" doesn't mean | much. | bena wrote: | What he knows is immaterial though. | | Whatever McAfee would "reveal" would just be his word. | Which isn't great. Unless he knows how to obtain evidence | of things, what he "knows" is just rambling. | | Movies have instilled in us this notion that simply knowing | something is good enough. It's not. Let's pretend for a | second that McAfee _knew_ that certain public figures were, | without a doubt, 100%, Satanic pedophile lizard people or | whatever the flavor of the month panic is. | | If his only proof of this is that he saw Person X devour a | live baby while molesting children in the basement of a | pizza parlor, it's kind of meaningless. It's not much | better than just saying you know it because you believe it | really strongly. | | The information he would have to know would be specific to | uncover something in a way that people could actually act | on that information. | | Otherwise, it's like what Bill Murray whispered in my ear | after he painted my house last night, "No one will ever | believe you". | boomboomsubban wrote: | It's not impossible that his word could provide evidence, | he may know where (possibly metaphorical) bodies are | buried. | [deleted] | bshoemaker wrote: | The more simple explanation would probably be "a person doing | this doesn't have a firm grip on reality, and might be a | suicide risk" | stusmall wrote: | There was a ruling today approving his extradition to the US. | US officials were about to get him and he was facing extremely | serious charges. That's a really important bit of context to | keep in mind before jumping to ideas that some shadowy "they" | had him killed. | paulpauper wrote: | I have hard time believing this, either that he died or his | motive. Tax evasion has one of the most lenient punishments | of white collar crimes. | AceJohnny2 wrote: | McAfee has shown time and again that he wasn't a reliable | or rational person. | jahewson wrote: | Paying taxes is even less painful and he didn't do that. | bingidingi wrote: | He had enough charges lined up (up to 5 years for every | count, IIRC) that he would likely be imprisoned for life. | Goes without saying but he was also an incredibly paranoid | person. | paulpauper wrote: | I doubt it. charges tend to run concurrently. If he | cooperated and paid what he could, likely he would serve | no time. | CommieBobDole wrote: | Yeah, but federal sentencing guidelines are complicated | and it's very unlikely he'd serve anything like the | possible maximum sentence. Trial probably would have | dragged on for a few years and he'd eventually plead to | something and serve a couple of years in a minimum | security prison. | | That said, he was 75, so I guess even a few years could | potentially be a life sentence. | dragonwriter wrote: | > He had enough charges lined up (up to 5 years for every | count, IIRC) that he would likely be imprisoned for life | | Usually, without aggravating circumstances, federal | sentences would run concurrently, though thr multiplicity | might push them up within the range permitted. So, lots | of nonviolent up to 5 years per count crimes with no | particular extreme factors likely adds up to...about 5 | years. | | Which at his age might still be a sizable fraction of his | life, and he wouldn't be the first person to act based on | an unrealistic estimate based on what is theoretically | possible rather than likely. | Hamuko wrote: | He was 75.8 years old at the time of his death and the | average life expectancy for a male in the United States | is 76.3. | jeffbee wrote: | That's not really how that works. The life expectancy of | an American male who already attained aged 75 is 11 more | years. | ufmace wrote: | The timing does make me suspicious. I'm generally willing to | believe he was "suicided" by some shadowy conspiracy. But if | that's what happened, why would they do it on the day his | extradition was approved? | | If our secret ninja assassins wanted to take him out because | he Knew Too Much or whatever, they could do that any old | time. Why do it on the day his extradition was approved | instead of some random day 6 months ago or something. | | On the other hand, it seems much more reasonable that a man | whose extradition to the US to face Federal Criminal charges | was just approved might suddenly decide to kill himself | rather than deal with that. | | Unless of course the Secret Ninja Assassins knew that and | decided to kill him today to make it look less suspicious. | But then we're really getting into the weeds of conspiracy, | where any crazy thing we could dream up might have happened. | dontblink wrote: | Or they could only get too him in a Spanish prison and they | ran out of time. | bronzeage wrote: | You literally answered it yourself: you find the suicide | more believable today. If you find it more believable | today, and their motivation is obscuring the murder, this | is the perfect timing actually. | fastball wrote: | Unless McAfee has dirt on you, and getting extradited to the | US with serious crimes against him means a high likelihood of | him turning state's witness. | jahewson wrote: | He's not exactly going to appear credible in court. | fastball wrote: | When I say dirt I don't mean hearsay. I mean physical | evidence. | TheAdamAndChe wrote: | Though it is also highly notable that he publicly posted "I'm | not going to kill myself, and if I do then I was probably | assassinated" before his death. | dragontamer wrote: | That was 2 years ago though. A lot in a person's life can | change in just 2 years. | TheAdamAndChe wrote: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609346 | | He's also indicated much more recently that any "suicide" | wouldn't be such. | dtech wrote: | That's also 9 months ago, "before his death" is a bit | misleading. | ruined wrote: | and if he'd posted it yesterday, you'd be saying it's so | soon that it's suspicious and he's obviously up to | something. | | what's the optimal cooldown to post affirmations of life | so that you believe they're true? | dragontamer wrote: | I guess I discount the words of others pretty strongly, | especially when it comes to conspiracy theories. | | Instead of trying to look for evidence in someone's | tweets, how about we look at the facts on the ground. | Such as: was he on suicide watch? Is this jail reliable? | Is there a history of conspiracy and/or corruption in | this jailhouse? | colordrops wrote: | Very strange that you are being down voted. | babypuncher wrote: | The man has spent most of his life lying and cheating, | why would anyone believe him when he says this? | [deleted] | nullsmack wrote: | And then he killed himself to set off moronic conspiracy | theories as a final FU to the USA. | colordrops wrote: | Which is more believable, that he was murdered, or that | he killed himself to troll people? | willis936 wrote: | Truly the latter. He was not a well-adjusted, grounded | individual. | | Also, what benefit is there to the US to kill him? They | already won. Being able to kill people you have custody | of is a weak message compared to "nowhere is safe from | us". | colordrops wrote: | They don't want him in the press talking. And it sends a | message. | willis936 wrote: | The message was already sent: you can't flee from the IRS | once you are a target. Showing you're not afraid to kill | enemies isn't nearly as chilling. | watwut wrote: | Prisoners dont get to talk to press all that much. You | are 100% of time under controll. And having him in prison | for long sends even better message then maybe-murder- | maybe-not. | Gigamo wrote: | He was literally tweeting up until a few days ago. What | makes you think he'd need the press to "unveil" anything | "they" "don't want him talking about"? | colordrops wrote: | No one was paying attention to his tweets. He'd get a lot | of attention in an extradition. | bingidingi wrote: | They don't want him in the press talking about what | exactly? He didn't exactly come across as a guy that | would flee to central america to keep decades-long | secrets. | julianeon wrote: | He didn't kill himself to troll people, really. | | He killed himself to damage the reputation of the US | government. | | He couldn't escape from imprisonment, and he couldn't do | much to harm the government. But he could do this. | | It was the most he could do, so (I think) it's what he | did. | rchaud wrote: | How would the reputation of the US government be | affected? McAfee is not a popular international figure, | and he's not a martyr for any kind of cause that people | will rally around. | timmytokyo wrote: | The reputation of the US government will not be affected. | But I can imagine that in McAfee's confused mind, it | would be. | svloop wrote: | Do you realize you are ditching a conspiracy with a | conspiracy? | DFHippie wrote: | Which raises an interesting question: can a conspiracy | consist of a single person? How about if that person | speaks to himself? | | More to your point -- replacing one weakly substantiated | theory with another -- there are still degrees of | plausibility among unsubstantiated theories. | Cyberdog wrote: | I have found that "I'll never kill myself. There's always | something to live for" is something that is very easy for | people who are safe and happy to say, and I pray that these | people will always be safe and comfortable enough to not change | their mind on this for their own sakes. | | When you're sitting in a tiny concrete box and looking at the | very distinct possibility of spending the rest of your life in | such a box, either metaphorically or, in McAfee's case, | literally, the thought process is quite different. Yes, McAfee | has had run-ins with the law before, but maybe he figured he | wasn't going to get out of this situation so easily, and he | didn't have that many more good years left in front of him, | concrete box or no. | | Thus, I'm willing to accept this as a suicide unless and until | compelling evidence otherwise surfaces. | jonahss wrote: | add to that: going through drug withdrawal while trapped in | said box | bronzeage wrote: | Why does the box being in the U.S or Spain matter to him, he | would literally be in a box anyway. From his twits it seems | he already made peace with being jailed and even said that | quote while in jail. | nabla9 wrote: | Anyone who believes that IRS or SEC sends a hitman to kill | people because they evade taxes or run fraudulent crypto | schemes, needs to examine their head. | | McAfee was always paranoid. He was not a threat to the man. He | also lied a lot and even admitted it many times. | [deleted] | anshumankmr wrote: | His body is probably not even cold yet and the conspiracy | theories are piling up. On a Twitter thread, replies range from | the usual RIPs to people claiming some dubious connection with | Epstein, Clinton etc. Not claiming that you are, but I suspect | many will use this as proof of something nefarious. Which it | might be, but at least I feel that it is unlikely. | duxup wrote: | It feels like everything now starts with 'it's a conspiracy' | for no reason and somehow everyone has to prove it isn't a | conspiracy ... or it is assumed to be. | duderific wrote: | Once you believe nefarious actors are running things behind | the scenes, it's pretty easy to apply that thinking to | almost any scenario. | MattGaiser wrote: | Why kill someone they were about to get legitimately? | celticninja wrote: | Because whatever he says in a trial becomes public record and | widely reported on. | colordrops wrote: | A lot of down voting of perfectly reasonable comments in | this thread... | chipotle_coyote wrote: | That's perhaps because so many of them, are like | virtually all of yours, persisting in pushing "he was | killed by the government!" based, as far as I can tell, | solely on him saying "I would never commit suicide so if | it looks like I did, the government must have done it." | Why are we all dismissing that, right? We're dismissing | it because we're looking at McAfee's history. The man | loved to make grand, conspiratorial statements with | absolutely nothing to back them up. Take a walk through | his Wikipedia page, and don't go "pfft, Wikipedia" -- I'm | talking about the parts with extensive supporting links | here. In a very real way, McAfee loved being a troll. No | judgement on him (at least for that), but I honestly | don't see how anyone can deny it was a huge facet of his | later life. | | I don't doubt that at the time he said he wouldn't commit | suicide, he meant it, but based on other tweets quoted | among these comments, he was _very_ clearly in a state of | depression brought on by his incarceration -- and, for | god 's sake, he'd spent most of the last decade as a | fugitive. This is a man who went to extreme lengths to | _avoid being in prison._ So when you keep asking, over | and over, "What makes you think he would possibly commit | suicide to avoid spending the rest of his life in | prison," the answer is "literally everything the man had | been doing before he was caught." | celticninja wrote: | That might just be me, I seem to have attracted the ire | of some people on HN recently. | rchaud wrote: | Edward Snowden has published a book, appeared on every | podcast and talked to every media outlet since the 2013 | revelations. He's still alive (granted, in Russia, where | he'll probably be stuck forever). | | I seriously doubt a drugged-up 75yo who lived outside the | US for much of the past 20 years somehow had a hotter scoop | on the US government's doings. | read_if_gay_ wrote: | Epstein has to be a suicide too then, because Snowden is | still alive? | onemoresoop wrote: | > Because whatever he says in a trial becomes public record | and widely reported on. | | I don't think John had any credibility left for that to | happen. We will never be 100% sure but I lean %99.99 that | he committed suicide. He was not the kind to spent time in | jails. Boredom killed this man | pfisch wrote: | Maybe I'm out of the loop, but who cares what he says? He | is just a crazy person who dodged taxes. | morelisp wrote: | Unfortunately like Shkreli, Trump, etc., he has amassed | an army of angry young extremely online men who hung on | his every word, and will now descend on the comments | section. | andruby wrote: | Extremely online men? | | I think the HN community has little overlap with the | #FreeMcAfee club. | morelisp wrote: | I guess it depends on how you define "little." You can | peruse the comments here before they're flagged; it's a | lot bigger overlap than any other community I'm in, | including some of the worse ones like miniature wargaming | or Emacs users. | cwyers wrote: | I mean, they're posting in this thread right now. Maybe | it's not a lot of them by percentage, but they're | certainly vocal right now. | mywittyname wrote: | He's also a liar and a con artist. And he's always been | obsessed with being the object of others' obsessions. | Like when he would claim to be the zenith of hacking | targets, nevermind the fact that he'd been irrelevant for | decades. | cogman10 wrote: | Did you ever get the impression from him that he was | "holding back"? | celticninja wrote: | I wasn't saying he was, just providing a possible | response to the question in the comment I replied to. | | It seems like HN is becoming more like Reddit and | downvotes now indicate disagreement instead of being used | to hide things that don't add to the discussion. | boomboomsubban wrote: | To my knowledge he never posted something like "I really | did kill that guy." He may have still had secrets even | though his online life was so loud. | cogman10 wrote: | Perhaps, but I doubt those secrets were secrets that | "they don't want you to hear". He's never been in a | position to get any governmental secrets and, AFAIK, he's | not really known to have connections with anyone really | important in government (ala Epstein). | | It also makes little sense that the US government would | kill him before extradition and not after when they have | a lot more control over narrative and investigations. | Killing him on foreign soil makes everything needlessly | harder for the US. | boomboomsubban wrote: | >He's never been in a position to get any governmental | secrets and, AFAIK, | | Part of his career was at Booz Allen Hamilton, though not | for too long. Also he was in a position where corporate | or personal secrets may have been accessible, which could | also explain why an extradition would lead to action. | [deleted] | Leader2light wrote: | The USA has a lot to answer for. Is a man's life worth taxes when | we just print unlimited money anyway? | | Disgusting. We rob the world and destroy, even so, collapse is | coming and no amount of fake money will stop it. | gerikson wrote: | Shouldn't that be a _Catalan_ jail? | elicox wrote: | No, "Catalan Jail" is only for positive news; for negatives, | you have to use Spanish. | | Come on! That is the first rule of brainwashing. | tromp wrote: | Please don't link to websites that snub Europeans with the | infamous | | "Our European visitors are important to us. | | This site is currently unavailable to visitors from the European | Economic Area while we work to ensure your data is protected in | accordance with applicable EU laws." | onychomys wrote: | But how would somebody not in Europe know that the website does | that? | suifbwish wrote: | I don't blame any website for protecting themselves against the | moronic laws of other nations. It's not ok for a government to | presume it's right to fine companies in another sovereign | nation just because the company servers maintain data about who | used their services when it was the voluntary action of the | individuals using the services that caused the collection of | data. That's like going into someone's shop and then trying to | sue them because their security cameras filmed you. | MaxBarraclough wrote: | If you see the GDPR block page (as I did), here's the | Outline.com version: https://outline.com/Sc93ds | viro wrote: | How about you fix ur laws then and stop banning EU companies | from using US companies. | bingidingi wrote: | EU companies can do business with US companies as long as | they're following the law. Thousands of companies and | websites have no problem doing so. | viro wrote: | Tell that to the companies fined for using mail chimp. You | might to look up the regulatory requirements to "follow the | law". when it comes to EU companies using services from US | based companies. Even if the data never leaves the EU... | [deleted] | rackjack wrote: | I honestly forgot he existed. He always seemed more like a | mythical character than anything else to me. | tenerifevisitor wrote: | Sad ending of one of the first innovators of the new technology | era. | | Rest In Peace. | DarkByte wrote: | Why is it when I use the safari share button on my iPhone and | select someone to share this article to the URL is swapped for | this other nxsttv domain with an article on the same topic? | devoutsalsa wrote: | I choose to remember him like this: | | "How To Uninstall McAfee Antivirus" => | https://youtu.be/bKgf5PaBzyg | bloak wrote: | Bit of a tangent here: | | I notice he stresses the first syllable of his name. Is | "McAfee" always pronounced that way, also in England, Ireland | and Scotland? | | Wikipedia gives the pronunciation as /'maek@fi:/, like in the | video. Is it reasonable to suppose that if lots of people | pronounced the name differently then at least one of them would | have edited the Wikipedia article to mention the other | pronunciation? | nverno wrote: | what a legend | LambdaComplex wrote: | Very NSFW. Very hilarious. | virgulino wrote: | "But the strangest part of knowing McAfee was the time he | wanted me to help start an AIDS-free sex club. I still remember | how excited he was about his new, brilliant idea. Membership | required a fee and an AIDS test. If the test came back | negative, you were given a membership card, which you could | then take to organized member parties, have lots of casual sex, | and not worry about catching the virus." | | - My adventures with John McAfee | https://www.csoonline.com/article/2616198/my-adventures-with... | sterlind wrote: | Anti-virus in all respects, I guess. | [deleted] | [deleted] | ping_pong wrote: | He has lived a very interesting life, to say it mildly. I can | think of worse lives to have lived, especially considering how | rich he was, how salacious a life he lead with his drug-and-sex | filled decades and even killing someone. Ending it via suicide in | a Spanish prison seems just about par for the course given the | rest of his life. | sschueller wrote: | Sad that the punishment is so extreme and state of US prisons is | so bad that people rather kill them selves than face their | charges. | krylon wrote: | I remember that time, maybe 5-7 years ago, when he had a car | chase with the police, followed by a little shootout. After the | police apprehended him, he claimed he had mistaken them for his | ex-wife, and also that he was on Xanax (and who knows what else). | | One of a kind, that's for sure. | [deleted] | G3rn0ti wrote: | 30 years for tax evasion? No wonder he preferred to die. | | I mean, you'll get jail time for severe cases of tax evasion in | Germany, too, but it's a couple of years at max and most of the | time it's on probation. | | How do you justify your draconic punishments in the US which is | supposed to be a free country? | dumbfckeuro wrote: | He would never see jail, hadn't even been convicted yet, | average jail time is like 15 months in the usa, and he didn't | kill himself. | | Germany max is 10 years BTW, at least google before you post | bullshit. | G3rn0ti wrote: | It's 5 years. The 10 years are an amendment in cases of | organized crime or public servants misusing their power. This | exception exists to lock up criminals if no other charges can | be proven. https://www.gesetze-im- | internet.de/ao_1977/__370.html | freddie_mercury wrote: | Germany has more draconic laws than the US in this situation, | so I'm not sure what you're talking about. | | "Under German law, the maximum term for one count of aggravated | tax evasion is 10 years. If an accused is convicted of more | than one count, the court can increase the maximum to 15 | years." | | The US is 5 years for each count, half of Germany's. | | Macafee was under accused of multiple crimes, which added up to | the headline figure of 30 years. | | If he had been German it would have 60 years for those same | multiple crimes. | qayxc wrote: | > If he had been German it would have 60 years for those same | multiple crimes. | | Nope. That's nonsense. Contrary to other countries, prison | time isn't added on a per-conviction basis in Germany. | There's maximum prison time per crime (in this case: 15 | years) and that's that. | G3rn0ti wrote: | Also jail times do not add up in Germany like in the US it | seems. If you are guilty of violating several laws you still | receive only a single punishment (,,Tateinheit"). If McAfee | has not declared his income tax correctly in three | consecutive years this would count as a single violation of | the law. | nkmnz wrote: | Nope, we don't add up prison time in Germany for repeating | the same or related crimes over and over. On top, the 10/15 | years are the maximum and barely reached. E.g. Uli Hoeness, | ex-manager of the soccer club Bayern Munich, got 3.5 years | for evasion of ~30m dollar in a total of 7 counts, but could | actually leave prison after sth like two years, 1.5 of which | where ,,open jail time", so he could go to work and only had | to sleep in jail. | G3rn0ti wrote: | Prison time here in Germany is limited to 15 years at max -- | independent on the number of crimes. People imprisoned for | violent crimes may stay there for their whole life if they | pose an ongoing threat to public safety. | rOOb85 wrote: | - Prison time here in Germany is limited to 15 years at max | | - People imprisoned for violent crimes may stay there for | their whole life if they pose an ongoing threat to public | safety. | | So... Germany DOES have a life sentence. Kinda misleading | to state it doesn't. | nkmnz wrote: | It's not misleading. The prison term is 15 yrs max. In | case of extraordinary violent crimes, the prisoner will | be continuously evaluated and - if deemed to be a threat | to public safety - hold on custody. Not because of the | crime itself, but as a preventive measure. Once the | evaluation no longer suggests a threat to public safety, | they can leave. | kriberg wrote: | wouldnt it be 15 years, as thats the maximum? | squeaky-clean wrote: | What? It says right there "more than one count, the court can | increase the maximum to 15 years." It doesn't say per count. | If you're convicted of more than one (up to infinity) the | maximum is 15 years. | monetus wrote: | If haven't noticed by the number of responses your comment has | engendered, speaking in absolutes can come across as trolling. | "You" don't justify anything; you live and affect the system | you are born into. The united states are not united in what is | desired from the "justice" system. | hourislate wrote: | The US loves it jails and they love making examples out of | people unless of course your a corporation or a politician. | Then you're allowed to evade taxes, insider trading, and | anything else that is considered a death sentence for everyone | else. | pcbro141 wrote: | My understanding was the IRS will give you a chance to pay back | your taxes with penalties, and they only criminally charge | people as a last resort. Is that not the case? Or perhaps only | for people who aren't being egregious with their evasion. | freeone3000 wrote: | Livestreaming your cryptocurrency-fueled presidential bid | while living on a houseboat in international waters to evade | arrest may qualify as "being egregious". | pcbro141 wrote: | Right, I don't think they tend to imprison people who | accidentally mess up their taxes or fail to report some | income to save some money. I think it's typically the very | egregious offenders who get jail time. | dcolkitt wrote: | Prison time for tax evasion is extremely rare in the US. Almost | always the IRS just collects the penalty and moves on. The only | real exceptions are either for criminals with a lot of other | charges stacked up (eg mob bosses). Or a public figure making a | political statement like Wesley Snipes. | | Not saying this is good or bad. Just saying it's how it is. Joe | Sixpack who fails to report some cash income will almost | certainly never see a jail cell. | gpt5 wrote: | Selective enforcement is bad. The fact that the law says that | you could go to prison for one year for not filing taxes on | time, but that it's rarely enforced means that they should | fix the law. | | Using it only on "bad guys" is a recipe for the government | punishing people that disagrees with them. | KMnO4 wrote: | > which is supposed to be a free country | | A common misconception. The United States takes the | constitution seriously, but doesn't even rank in the top 15 | countries according to most freedom indexes. | tonfreed wrote: | Depends what you value. You have to really look at what the | freedom indices are using to rank countries. | 542458 wrote: | Popehat has an excellent article about this sort of thing. It's | really quite good. | | https://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentenc... | | The tldr is that the maximum sentence of all the crimes added | up has very little to do with what most people would actually | face. | srswtf123 wrote: | The sadly honest answer is that we don't justify it. The people | in power like punishing people. | Trias11 wrote: | US Citizenship in reality is an IRS trap. | | Now Biden wants to hire 87,000 more IRS workers to harass | americans. | | This used to be a great country. | | Times long gone. | romanovcode wrote: | AFAIK U.S. is the only country that makes you pay tax even if | you are tax resident of different country. | | Ironically it does not apply to corporations that fail to pay | billions in tax. | atlasunshrugged wrote: | Also Eritrea :) Jokes aside, there is a waiver if you are | earning less than ~$150,000 as a single earner where you're | not double taxed. | marton78 wrote: | Well, that military won't pay itself... | Trias11 wrote: | >> makes you pay tax even if you are tax resident of | different country | | It's not that someone is tax resident of different country. | | The disgusting part of this IRS racket is that US forces | people to pay taxes to US even if they no longer live | there. Eritrea is the only another one like US in this | aspect. | carl_dr wrote: | The US and Eritrea. | | I knew this was a thing, but I had always assumed a US | citizen living abroad only ended up paying tax to the IRS | if the tax they paid to the foreign government was less | than what they would have paid to the US, and only the | difference is paid. | | But it seems that's not the case, and you get an exemption | for "only" the first $108,700 of your earnings. | | As with everything the IRS does, it seems complex and full | of exemptions, but I have read that (badically) correctly? | You could end you being double taxed if you earn more than | that? | Trias11 wrote: | Why person needs to go through the hassles and expenses | to file tax return every year to the country where he/she | doesn't not live in any longer? | | What kind of state sponsored racket is this? | vinay427 wrote: | With the major caveat below, on the face of it, it | doesn't seem much less arbitrary to tax by citizenship | than by residence in certain cases. For instance, as | someone that grew up in the US and went to public | schools, I certainly used far more public resources there | than in my current country of residence, and would also | (as a citizen) have access to an indefinite further | amount of resources such as consular representation, | retirement benefits if retiring there, etc. It seems | about as arbitrary to me to pay taxes in a country that I | cannot unilaterally choose to continue living in, due to | immigration obstacles. | | However, given that the global consensus is to tax by | residence, the US should absolutely change its policy to | avoid the hassles due to this inconsistency. | tonfreed wrote: | The US is one of two countries that does it. California | wants to levy a similar thing for people moving away from | there | vinay427 wrote: | It seems quite unusual to be double taxed according to | what I could understand from the relevant laws. The first | X amount of earned income is exempt as you noted. The | amount above that, if a tax treaty is in place with the | other country of taxation (i.e. your country of | residence), is generally subject to the rule of paying | the difference, although the details on this may vary by | individual country and tax treaty. | G3rn0ti wrote: | How high is the US income tax? And is it progressive? | smitty1110 wrote: | Top end, which kicks in at a bit shy of $520k is 37%. Top | end Long-term Capital Gains max rate is 20% at about $440k. | These are numbers for individuals, they differ for married | couples and households filing collectively. | not2b wrote: | The very wealthy can usually avoid paying anywhere near | these amounts, though. Corporate owners can pay | themselves a nominal salary and let the corporation grow. | Capital gains are only due when stock is sold. So they | avoid selling and borrow using their stock as collateral. | Trias11 wrote: | I think you're underestimating. There are Federal AND | state taxes and that math quickly adds up. | [deleted] | echelon wrote: | Not all states have income taxes. | | State income taxes are usually pretty low. | | Texas and Florida don't have an income tax. | | Georgia ranges from 1% to 5.5%. | | California goes all the way up to 13%. | G3rn0ti wrote: | At least that's lower than in many European countries. In | case of the income tax at least. | carl_dr wrote: | (Helped by Google ...) | | In NYC, earning about $100k a year, the effective rate is | ~28% tax (ie, you pay $28k tax a year), including federal | (~15%) and state (~5%), social security etc. | | In the UK, for PS100k, it looks like it's 27.4%. | | So very similar levels. | InitialLastName wrote: | > This used to be a great country. | | When? | ahartmetz wrote: | Seen from over the pond in Germany: | | It seems like the US were (compared to the rest of the | world) at their best from 1860ish to 1970ish. When they had | great education for he masses, public health, technological | and economic progress, a certain naive idealism, and the | most comfortable middle class in the world. Things were, if | not already good, pointing in the right direction. After | that, selfish and cynical elites took over and society | stagnated and fragmented. | AdamN wrote: | US indeed has draconian punishments. However 30 years is a | starting/worst case scenario to encourage a plea bargain. | | Plea bargains are horrendous and really should be banned or | made extremely rare. | CobrastanJorji wrote: | I completely agree, but plea bargains are also the basic | mechanism by which the justice system functioned. They | represent something like 95% of convictions. If everybody who | currently took a plea switched to demanding a trial, we'd | need at least twenty times as many judges and juries. | | I'm not against that, mind you, I'm just saying that you are | proposing a massive sea change in the legal system. | Everything about the recommended sentencing to basic | questions like "what incentives can we offer to flip on | someone" would need to be completely rethought. | dotBen wrote: | You're not free to not pay your taxes | | _(take that as an abstract comment, I have no view or | knowledge on McAfee and his personal tax affairs)_ | tim333 wrote: | Many countries largely limit things to taking your assets | rather than locking you up, especially in cases like McAffees | where I don't think he committed fraud, just refused to do | his tax returns. | freeone3000 wrote: | There's an underlying element of basic cooperation there -- | you will actually surrender the assets, eg, instead of | putting it all into cryptocurrency then sailing into | international waters. | danSimmons42 wrote: | The US needs to aggressively collect these funds so that they | can turn around and send a big portion of them to Israel. A | constant threat of draconian enforcement ensures that | Palestinian children can be blown up with the latest and | greatest military hardware. And let's not kid ourselves, the US | is not a free country. Any discussion of these issues are | quickly shut down (via comment deletion and/or shadow banning). | freedomben wrote: | Not just that but as a US citizen even if you aren't living in | the US anymore you _still_ have to pay US taxes. The 2014-2018 | income taxes he owed were while staying abroad. The US forces | you to renounce your citizenship to get out of paying taxes to | a country you don 't live in. IANAL but that's my | understanding. | dukeofdoom wrote: | Q was his last post | https://www.instagram.com/officialjohnmcafee/?hl=en | rhema wrote: | I hope there is security footage. If not, I don't like the trend | for governments / organizations / powerful people in exacting | justice. | [deleted] | bifrost wrote: | Thats awful. | Kharvok wrote: | F | JohnMcafee wrote: | Hello. | godmode2019 wrote: | RIP John | jordhy wrote: | May he rest in peace. Sometimes is best to realize we are not in | a position to judge. | automatoney wrote: | Should the title be changed to the more journalistic "died by | suicide", or just "died" with suicide left to the article body? | "Committed suicide" is generally not the recommended phrasing | largely due to associations with criminality - see | https://reportingonsuicide.org/recommendations/ as well as | https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/2018/10/04/a-guide-to-res... | and https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/June-2018/Why- | Suicide-R... | breck wrote: | Don't know nearly anything about the guy, but as a rule anytime | an enemy of a government dies of "suicide" or natural causes and | there is no video footage I am suspect. You can buy a security | cam and a year of monitoring for a the price of a hamburger. | Nowadays a 3 year old can't eat a cookie without there being | video footage. | | These should be assumed murders until proven otherwise. | | If you need a reminder of why, watch this video | (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJujIwtdk8w) | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_al-Mabhouh | caymanjim wrote: | People in prison are already living under an extreme degree of | observation and control. Now you want to deprive them of the | last tiny bit of privacy they can hope for and record them 24/7 | in their cells? | breck wrote: | An interesting point. | | I'll clarify. Anyone _imprisoned while awaiting trial_ , | should have the right to live stream their imprisonment. An | absolute dirt cheap way to safeguard justice. | watwut wrote: | It is absolute sure way to ensure accused will be | threatened with violence if he dont agree with it. And then | the public broadcast used to harass him, his familly and | used to extract plead guilty just so that it ends. | nemo44x wrote: | He made it to 75 and had an absolutely insane, wild ride. What a | scoundrel and magnificent bastard. RIP. | EMM_386 wrote: | McAffee ended up doing YOLO to the extreme. Check out the "After | McAffee Associates" section. | | > In June 2013, McAfee uploaded a parody video titled How to | Uninstall McAfee Antivirus onto his YouTube channel. In the | video, McAfee criticized McAfee's antivirus software while | snorting white powder, and being stroked and undressed by | scantily clad women. The video has garnered over 10 million | views. | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee#After_McAfee_Assoc... | drummer wrote: | This is one of the most important tweets made by McAfee: | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/100016379550176870... | [deleted] | mrverify wrote: | I'm going to be that guy. He was suicided, probably by some other | country that had business they didn't want him sharing with the | USA. He was offering to help Cuba use crypto to get around | embargo. Who else might he have helped? | sva_ wrote: | What a strange life he lived. I'm not going to make a value | judgement about whether or not he was a 'good' person, but I do | applaud the fact that he dared to deviate from the norm. | | "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered | mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. | Too weird to live, and too rare to die." | | -- Hunter S Thompson | | RIP | notyourwork wrote: | That Thompson quote really resonates with me, thanks for | sharing. | gregschlom wrote: | Read the whole book, then if you haven't already (Fear and | Loathing in Las Vegas). Truly excellent. | to1y wrote: | Far from excellent imo. Repetitive and disinteresting in | tone and topics(drugs.) Ok if you're a teenager. | xadhominemx wrote: | He's a murderer and fraudster. You do not in fact have to | applaud him for anything. | Taek wrote: | You can celebrate someone's accomplishments without condoning | their sins. I applaud lots of little pieces of his life and | reject/regret many others. | yashap wrote: | I agree to a certain extent, but ... if the allegations are | true, he murdered his neighbour, raped at least 1 woman, | hired a small private army, and was possibly running drugs. | For me, that dominates my picture of him, building an anti- | virus company seems like a small detail in comparison. | | We'll never know for sure which of the allegations are | true, but from what I've read/watched, my personal opinion | is most seem pretty credible. If they are, I'd find it in | poor taste to celebrate much about the man, given how much | pain and suffering he's likely caused. | 3np wrote: | > possibly running drugs | | Didn't he have a pretty detailed site on "how to smuggle | drugs through Central America and get away with it"? I'm | pretty sure that was him. Can't seem to find the site rn | though. | ineedasername wrote: | If he truly is a fraudster, then you cannot really trust is | accomplishments as being his own. | aeturnum wrote: | I feel like there are some obvious problems with | celebrating successes without making room for what the | person did to achieve that success. | | As an example: it would be odd to celebrate Amazon's | financial success without mentioning their labor practices. | Agree or disagree with them, they are part of how Amazon is | able to make money. | | If people are more than the worst thing they have ever | done, then they are also more than the best thing they ever | did. Talking about either in isolation is deceptive. | cabaalis wrote: | I agree with you, but I'm pretty sure the age of social | media has us in the minority. | doopy1 wrote: | I agree with you guys... but this dude's accomplishments | are few and purely self-serving. | pessimizer wrote: | > issuing correction on a previous post of mine, regarding | the terror group ISIL. you do not, under any circumstances, | "gotta hand it to them" | | https://twitter.com/dril/status/831805955402776576 | bogwog wrote: | and allegedly a rapist | f38zf5vdt wrote: | Just like many of our founding fathers! | tptacek wrote: | At least one of those rape accusations was made on camera, | by Allison Adonizio. It's not a fuzzy Twitter rumor thing. | She accuses him of drugging and raping her. | skinkestek wrote: | Not saying it did or didn't happen but plenty of people | has been accused not only on Twitter but also on TV for | things they never did. | tptacek wrote: | He was convicted neither of rape nor of murder (though he | was apparently found culpable for the murder by a US | federal judge in a wrongful death suit). I believe he is | guilty of both, as is my right; you might disagree, as is | your right. | DynamicStatic wrote: | Guilty until proven innocent? | JohnMcafee wrote: | Rude | belltaco wrote: | Taking hard drugs can lead to deviant behavior, so I am not | sure if people should be applauded for it. | skidnews wrote: | Taking "hard" drugs like Adderall and LSD can also lead to | increased productivity according to a lot of silicon valley | douchebags. | | _Looks around suspiciously_ | | Oh god, you don't think the deviants could be in this thread | do you? | | At least MacAfee took that shit to have fun, as God intended. | stingraycharles wrote: | That seems to imply that he lived a deviant life because he | took drugs, rather than the other way around. This is | precisely the type of judgement that the parent wanted to | avoid. :) | engineeringwoke wrote: | Drugs destroyed his life, and it wasn't glorious. I'm not | sure what else there is to say | mitjak wrote: | or did he take drugs bc his life was shit? why did you | decide to establish this direction of causality? | echelon wrote: | He lived a wealthy and colorful life full of ups and | downs. I wouldn't want it for myself, but it probably | worked out okay for him. | | We're all monkeys on a space rock. I think it's good we | have such variety. | dwighttk wrote: | > it probably worked out okay for him. | | He just committed suicide. | | And if you don't believe he did I'm not sure that makes a | case for it working out okay for him either. | TearsInTheRain wrote: | Did you know him personally to be able to make that | judgement. To me it sounds like lying on his taxes | destroyed his life, or to be more charitable to him, the | government destroyed his life | rchaud wrote: | So can being rich enough that no-one can check your | behaviour. | nonce42 wrote: | I came across a Wired article on McAfee from 2012 describing | his life in Belize, and it's quite a story. Starting an | antibiotic lab, hiring armed guards with automatic weapons, | trying to clean up drug crime in a small town, sleeping with | 17-year-olds (one of which tried to kill him), pointing a | loaded gun to his head, getting raided by the police and | jailed, lots of paranoia, and that's just the highlights. It's | worth a read. | | https://www.wired.com/2012/12/ff-john-mcafees-last-stand/ | twelve40 wrote: | thanks for re-sharing, what a great read to recap his crazy- | ass life | nigerian1981 wrote: | I always remember by Geography teacher correcting me on my | incorrect use of wether instead of whether and explaining that | the former meant a castrated ram. | sva_ wrote: | Thanks, I'll remember that. | layer8 wrote: | The way I remember how to write it is that "weather" and | "whether" have the same number of letters. | jonsen wrote: | There's a bunch of wh... words. Wouldn't you know them by | class? | | In my language they spell hv... | | Hvem, hvad, hvor = who, what, where etc. | hristov wrote: | It should be noted that this Hunter S Thompson quote refers to | Oscar Zeta Acosta. Acosta made a big difference fighting for | the rights of poor and marginalized mexican-americans in east | LA. He did something more with his life than just take a lot of | drugs and be weird. | syndacks wrote: | HST did a lot more than do drugs and be weird, but I wouldn't | imagine a computer nerd who clacks on a keyboard to know much | about Gonzojournalism or the effects it's had on American | culture. | antris wrote: | > did something more with his life than just take a lot of | drugs and be weird. | | Not everything about a person is their public image though. | Summing up a persons life like that, even if you disagree | with his public image, is just inhumane. Did you know him? | Did you ever even see him once? | smoldesu wrote: | > Did you know him? Did you ever even see him once? | | We're going to need to rewrite an awful lot of history if | our standards for judging people are "knowing them and | seeing them even once" | dleslie wrote: | FWIW, if HST is to be believed, I think McAfee and Acosta | would have gotten along: | | Oscar was not into serious street-fighting, but he was hell | on wheels in a bar brawl. Any combination of a 250 lb Mexican | and LSD-25 is a potentially terminal menace for anything it | can reach - but when the alleged Mexican is in fact a | profoundly angry Chicano lawyer with no fear at all of | anything that walks on less than three legs and a de facto | suicidal conviction that he will die at the age of 33 - just | like Jesus Christ - you have a serious piece of work on your | hands. Especially if the bastard is already 331/2 years old | with a head full of Sandoz acid, a loaded .357 Magnum in his | belt, a hatchet-wielding Chicano bodyguard on his elbow at | all times, and a disconcerting habit of projectile vomiting | geysers of pure blood off the front porch every 30 or 40 | minutes, or whenever his malignant ulcer can't handle any | more raw tequila. | | -- Hunter S. Thompson | serf wrote: | should also be noted that Oscar Zeta Acosta disappeared | during alleged involvement with drug-runners, and defended | groups and people who now-a-days would likely be considered | domestic terrorists (like early Brown Beret members before | their first dissolution in the early 70s). | drvdevd wrote: | This is true. But he did also do a lot of drugs and he was | also weird. See Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas for examples | where he was portrayed as Dr. Gonzo. | rOOb85 wrote: | That's one of my favorite quotes. I can really relate to it. | beprogrammed wrote: | You win this comment section, there could not be a more | appropriate quote for this news. | KorematsuFred wrote: | I remember that John McAfee was a strong supporter of | prostitution. In one of the Libertarian party debates he said he | is the most qualified person to support this issue because he | married a prostitute. | | McAfee represented the old west styled "good outlaw" stereotype. | Sadly, their times has passed away. | ibejoeb wrote: | Check out his instagram | wcchandler wrote: | Here's a story of how I'll remember John McAfee: | https://www.wired.com/2012/12/ff-john-mcafees-last-stand/ | [deleted] | [deleted] | et-al wrote: | Can someone explain why McAfee had decamped to Belize in the | first place and started a life on the lam? | | Wikipedia is surprisingly sparse here. | | Edit - in 2012 he was the prime suspect to the killing of his | neighbor as mentioned here: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609243 | mothsonasloth wrote: | He moved to Belize to "experiment" on herbal medicines to | affect the micro-biology of the human body. | | Guess Belize are lax on experiments and "labs" | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee#After_McAfee_Assoc... | duskwuff wrote: | > Can someone explain why McAfee had decamped to Belize in the | first place and started a life on the lam? | | Drugs. | | https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/09/the-obscure-legal-dr... | pjettter wrote: | Hard to beat "a colorful life until seventy five". Looking | forward to the facts, the movie. I don't want to judge. A person | can be many things. A hero. A myth. A criminal. I mean, | hyphthetically speaking. Many dimensions. But I guess in "our" | society, one is judged after a single thing. One dimension. An | open ended movie where you have to make up your own mind would be | great. RIP | gkoberger wrote: | 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. | res0nat0r wrote: | 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. | masklinn wrote: | > 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 wrote: | 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. | uncletammy wrote: | > 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] | drunkpotato wrote: | The legal standard for guilt in a criminal trial is "guilty | beyond a reasonable doubt." There is a lot of room between | "likely" and that very high standard. It is perfectly | consistent to think someone more likely committed a murder | than didn't, yet still have a reasonable doubt. So I really | don't think there's any shame here. | gkoberger wrote: | He was found guilty in civil court in Florida and forced to | pay $25M; he never stood trial because he fled. | | Also, presumption of innocence applies to the law, not to HN | comments. | CheezeIt wrote: | He wasn't "found guilty," it was a default judgement. | beart wrote: | One cannot be found guilty in a civil trial. | cortesoft wrote: | If you flee the country to avoid being tried in court, we are | just supposed to say "Oh well, guess you are innocent | forever"? | [deleted] | chris11 wrote: | > 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 wrote: | 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. | twelve40 wrote: | I enjoyed following the guy's adventures (if/when it | didn't involve killing people), but what on earth might | attract powerful authorities that would go as far as | killing him in a Western jail? He's not Epstein and | mostly posted fantasies and various minor scams. | chris11 wrote: | 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. | morelisp wrote: | 1) Presumption of innocence applies only in court which | McAfee purposefully avoided. | | 2) He was found guilty in civil court. | | 3) If he wanted to be judged by American standards he | should've perhaps stayed in America. | | 4) You're acting like accusations of torturing and murdering | your (yes actually dead) neighbor happen regularly to random | people. Cancel culture, amirite? | mikestew wrote: | "Innocent until proven guilty" is for the courts, who hold | sway over one's freedom. It is perfectly acceptable as an | individual to go, "yeah, he probably (because I, as an | individual, aren't held to a 'reasonable doubt' standard, | either) did it" just as it is perfectly acceptable to give | some benefit of the doubt. | | But as others have already pointed out, a court already found | him guilty, and it's moot anyway. | SllX wrote: | It's not just a legal standard, it's a fair minded | principled default. If you have information that didn't | make it to trial or that is not legally actionable, you can | make up your own mind. If you saw everything the Jury saw | and nothing they didn't see, and still would have voted | differently, fine. | | Innocent until proven guilty is an admission to your own | flaws in judging another person. You can live life without | that admission, but they are still present within you. | InitialLastName wrote: | He was found guilty in a civil suit, and has been actively | avoiding a criminal trial. | | "Likely" is a fully appropriate term, since all evidence | points to that being the case, but (as you say) there has | been no trial to subject that thesis to evidence. | prvc wrote: | "Likely" != "in my opinion" | beart wrote: | Civil trials do not determine guilt or innocence | InitialLastName wrote: | Nor can internet comments deprive people of material | rights, so we're in the clear! | devwastaken wrote: | Court of law has rules on what evidence can be brought in. | Courts are not the arbiter of justice, they're a system of | justice that has flaws and errors. | colordrops wrote: | Was he convincted of murder, or are you acting as the judge and | jury based on third hand media reports? | duskwuff wrote: | He was never tried, because he fled to Guatemala to avoid | prosecution, then faked a heart attack to delay his | extradition. | babypuncher wrote: | People aren't automatically innocent in the eyes of the | public just because they successfully avoid seeing a trial | for nearly a decade by fleeing the country they are wanted | in. McAfee's behavior surrounding the charges does absolutely | nothing to help his perception. | | "Innocent until proven guilty" is really only applicable in | the context of formal judicial punishment. Absent formal | judicial proceedings, it is completely fair for people to | draw their own conclusions from the available evidence. | | Even when a court of law does come to a conclusion, it does | not mean public opinion is required to agree with that | finding (i.e. that time OJ Simpson killed a person) | kyleee wrote: | *two people | jmkni wrote: | > People aren't automatically innocent in the eyes of the | public just because they successfully avoid seeing a trial | for nearly a decade by fleeing the country they are wanted | in | | It's weird how many on HN have this attitude to McAfee, but | not to Assange. | breakfastduck wrote: | I don't think Assange is a fair comparison. | | He has influenced the world in much more significant | ways. | babypuncher wrote: | That is strange, I always saw both figures as being | popular among the *ahem* _politicized conspiracy | theorist_ crowd that has become so prevalent online in | the last 5-6 years. | xtracto wrote: | All these pro/against witch-hunts remind me of Hans | Reiser [short] episode. When the Reiser saga was | unfolding, there was _a lot_ of support from people that | identified with the "nerd" group. I remember reading so | many theories on why "he couldn't have done it", how "it | is completely normal to remove the passenger sit form | your car", or to buy books on how to clean a crime | scene... | | Not saying I sway one way or another with Assange or | McCafee... just that, as in Reiser's case, I am sure | there's so much information we don't know that running to | make an armchair judgement is most likely bound to get | you to the wrong conclusion. | [deleted] | anigbrowl wrote: | 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 wrote: | 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 wrote: | > I'm all for due process, but... | | Then you're not for due process | ssully wrote: | 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. | godmode2019 wrote: | 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. | duskwuff wrote: | > 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-... | dang wrote: | Personal attacks like this and | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27363797 will get you | banned here. Please make your substantive points | thoughtfully. | | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html | nwsm wrote: | What do you mean how was he on the run? He (likely) killed | himself to avoid extradition | lotsofpulp wrote: | Was he not running away and hiding from various countries' | authorities? Are all the articles making it up? | jjulius wrote: | >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_. | .. | chpmrc wrote: | > 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. | nodesocket wrote: | Here in America we have something called innocent until proven | guilty. | bingidingi wrote: | "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 wrote: | > 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 wrote: | 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? | whydoyoucare wrote: | You shouldn't discount the possibility that your kid has | been stealing from you all along, making things disappear | when your cousin visited everytime to throw suspicion on | him. ;-) | | (Allright, I'm just trying to lighten the mood). | handrous wrote: | You're absolutely right about this. Future-supervillain | children framing others for their crimes must never be | discounted when attempting to explain any phenomenon. | That's just basic household safety. :-) | alphabetting wrote: | The Gringo documentary was damning. | joshmn wrote: | IMDB[0] for those wondering. | | [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6071534/ | prvc wrote: | The existence itself of that movie demonstrates that many | parties had it in for him. | syncsynchalt wrote: | Much as the existence of The History Channel demonstrates | a smear campaign against the third reich, I suppose. | celticninja wrote: | 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 wrote: | Hard to know how Ancient Aliens on the History channel | fits into this. | | Documentaries like money? | camel_Snake wrote: | I honestly can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. | babypuncher wrote: | This is not uncommon when you are both a notorious | asshole and wealthy enough to make it a problem for | everyone else | [deleted] | alfiedotwtf wrote: | Say what you want about him, he lived a life that should inspire | a lot of people in today's Instagram world... he did whatever | entertained him while not caring what other people thought of | him. Something mostly lost these days. | | I can't wait for the movie. | TazeTSchnitzel wrote: | Given his recent history, I suppose he probably tried to break | out of jail and failed? | hownottowrite wrote: | When is he getting a black bar? | underseacables wrote: | End of an era. What a shame. | beebeepka wrote: | Just like that Epstein guy killed himself | moralestapia wrote: | Funny you get downvoted for stating the truth :^) | beebeepka wrote: | One man's truth is another man's uncomfortable thought. Can't | have that | Krasnol wrote: | I doubt anybody in Spain or the US was afraid of what he could | say. | | So no...not just like it at all. | beebeepka wrote: | Surely you are not implying countries don't ever orchestrate | such things. | AnimalMuppet wrote: | They usually don't without being afraid of what the person | can say, no. | tzone wrote: | McAfee could easily have had plenty of dirt on ton of | powerful people. He would have given up all that info for | reducing his sentence in the US. | | It is not super crazy to think that there would be plenty of | people who would have rather see him die vs get extradited to | US. | motohagiography wrote: | I didn't know him at all, but felt there was something I | recognized and understood about what he was saying. If you must | burn, burn bright. It looked like a great ride. | | This video of him playing piano is what I think he wanted people | to know: | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/136205988701080781... | shaicoleman wrote: | Better quality link: | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsIGKxvrG0E | casi18 wrote: | thanks for that video. i found myself so quick to judge, though | i know very little about him. but seeing someone play music | makes them human again. it seems he did burn bright. some | people cant help but push up against the edges of existence. | rip. | maverick-iceman wrote: | Any international criminal law expert here? | | Why can the US arrest everybody in Europe but the colony of | fraudsters living in St.Kitts&Nevis (among them Paul Bilzerian) | is untouchable? | AdamN wrote: | Tax evasion (IRS) is much more serious than a securities crime | (SEC). Also, he did go to jail for some time. | DFHippie wrote: | Admittedly I haven't looked into this at all, but the likely | answer is extradition treaties. | voldacar wrote: | What an incredible life. | | Annoying antivirus creator, Belizean designer drug producer (and | possibly murderer), bitcoin enthusiast, international outlaw, | possible creator of the LSJ island drone videos... | | I never really interacted with him but I will miss him all the | same | mymanz wrote: | We need a black bar to salute this man. | lastofthemojito wrote: | He'd probably prefer a powdery white line. | doggodaddo78 wrote: | Never speak ill of the dead, unless it's the truth.. seems like a | final, fatalist drama move. Always with the drama for attention: | guns, police, random projects, extreme this or that, vaporware | never delivered, moving around a lot like a psychopath.. while | light on the getting anything real accomplished other than | staying in the media. Sigh. | vaer-k wrote: | So which kind of suicide is this? A suicide, or a "suicide"? | kyleee wrote: | That's the fun - you decide! | TX0098812 wrote: | Spanish prisons are apparently among the worst in Europe | according to some documentary I saw. I wonder if there's a | connection. | alfonsodev wrote: | At least Mcafee said Spanish prisons are like Hilton in | comparison to USA ones[1], do you have the documentary name, | it's the one about Norway prisons? Just curious. | | [1] | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9718567/amp/Antivir... | mrtksn wrote: | There were serious allegations of murder and serious corruption. | I'm conflicted on how to feel about this. Probably would have | preferred seeing him convicted or vindicated, definitely not | dead. | runbathtime wrote: | Maybe he was killed for his bitcoin/crypto? Is it a possibility? | How can we know if it was suicide or murder? | jug wrote: | I'm sadder about this than I expected. :-( | | He was most likely a drug abusing criminal. But what a special | mind to lose. | balls187 wrote: | No black band for McAfee? | kyleee wrote: | He probably deserves it for his tech contributions, but | unlikely in this day and age due to the sordid nature of his | final few decades | anonytrary wrote: | We should make a conscious effort to avoid this thinking. | It's way too common for people to dismiss a brilliant man | because of a few bad deeds or events that happened | surrounding him. Genius is rarely accompanied by butterflies | and rainbows. If we expect everyone to be perfect, there will | be no one left worth respecting. | balls187 wrote: | I created an HN poll asking the community their thoughts. | agiamas wrote: | RIP John, the world will miss you. You surely lived a full life. | boba7 wrote: | Americans murdered him because he refused to help them spy on | everyone with his software like other western companies do? | babypuncher wrote: | This might be the dumbest McAfee conspiracy theory yet. | gbear605 wrote: | He hasn't run any software since 1994 - if he had any power, it | was only secrets held in his mind. | maverwa wrote: | It has not been "his software" for more than a decade now. He | sold to Intel in 2010/2011. | tamaharbor wrote: | Nevertheless, a man is dead. May he Rest In Peace. | patfla wrote: | Watched about 20 minutes of Gringo before I got tired of it and | turned it off. | | Sounds like a textbook case of what can happen if you take a very | bright person and then give them a sudden windfall of success. | That is, derangement. He or she doesn't stop being smart and even | charismatic and so on. | | One question always is: what's the next act? No next act and the | propensity to derangement goes up. | rchaud wrote: | > what's the next act? | | Very hard question to answer for those who got rich early, , | lived fast, but now are out of the game and direction-less. | | A lot of pro athletes suffer depression after retirement | because of the absence of the daily routine. You have a | lifetime of empty hours left to fill. Some are fortunate and | have a network of friends and family to provide companionship | and support. Others don't and try to fill the void with sex and | drugs. But that just conceals the fundamental emptiness. It's | still there, and will reveal itself the second you come down. | cwkoss wrote: | Jena Friedman did a great interview with him back in 2018. Kind | of a Nathan for You vibe to it. | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfe4Fjf3sds | prvc wrote: | Just because someone lived a colorful life does not mean that it | is appropriate to inundate the forum with gossip and slander when | misfortune befalls him. I believe a little respect is in order. | RIP. | enriquto wrote: | One of his last messages, just a few days ago. It is sad and | thoughtful: | | _There is much sorrow in prison, disguised as hostility. | | The sorrow is plainly visible even in the most angry faces. | | I'm old and content with food and a bed but for the young prison | is a horror - a reflection of the minds of those who conceived | them._ | | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/140301918407478887... | azureel wrote: | Also this tweet is interesting. | | https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/131680121508322509... | | May he rest in peace. | vmception wrote: | Thats not interesting when its 9 months in advance | | Maybe a few weeks | | People arent just able to make a perpetual conspiracy | indefinitely in the future, or you dont have to entertain | people trying to do that | | I wont here | | He has increasingly depressing messages in an increasingly | dimmed outlook and an increasing time in prison | MyKneeGrows wrote: | Another one of my street pharmacist brothers bites the dust. Pour | one out for our fallen homie. | | All because he dared to be human. | virgulino wrote: | There was a time when I wouldn't leave home without a 5 1/4-inch, | 1.2 MB, write-protected MS-DOS boot floppy with my trusty McAfee | anti-virus, SCAN.EXE. | | I helped many people with just that. | | It was my first contact with shareware too. | | Thanks, John. | pdimitar wrote: | Never followed his story but the translated article on NyPost | only mentions his cryptocurrency pump and dump scheme. | | Which naturally leads me to the question, why was McAffee pursued | for this all the way to Europe but Elon Musk isn't even | investigated while millions watched him do the same? | | I am not loading this politically at all. I am not from the US | and I am mostly apathetic to celebrities. But I am genuinely | curious why is it OK for one guy to do it and very illegal for | another one doing the same? | Barrin92 wrote: | Musk was fined 40 million for his stock tweets but I don't | think he technically ever engaged in any crypto pump and dump | because I don't think he ever actually held (or dumped) any | crypto. I assume you have to actually financially benefit from | such a scheme to commit some sort of crime. Otherwise you're | basically just shitposting about crypto. | jfrunyon wrote: | Did you miss the "Tesla buys billions of USD in bitcoin" | headlines? Along with the "will accept payment in BTC" pump | and "never mind, selling" dump? | Barrin92 wrote: | did they actually dump their bitcoin? If yes I'd agree that | it deserves attention but I don't think that's the case. | Probably for that reason Elon actually posted in May or | whatever that they have not sold their coins. | | Unless you can show that he actually mislead users for | financial gain I don't think you're going to get | authorities involved. | mywittyname wrote: | I think he's pumping crypto in order to pump Telsa stock | price. If Telsa falls out of the S&P500, it will probably | descend into a death spiral. | | Musk claims that Telsa never sold any of their bitcoins | before the price collapsed when he reversed course on | BTC, but who the hell really knows at this point? | rurp wrote: | Well technically Musk said "Tesla will not be selling any | Bitcoin" when the policy change was announced. I haven't | seen anything where he claims he didn't sell _before_ the | change was announced. | | I have no idea if he dumped his Bitcoin before announcing | the change at Tesla, but misleading a bunch of people | while leaving himself a technicality escape hatch would | be extremely on brand for him. | jfrunyon wrote: | Hmm I thought they had but apparently that was just the | news being the news. (Although I'll note that Elon has | lied on Twitter plenty of times before :) ) | | Either way, he has certainly gained financially from | boosting Tesla's stock, which lying about crypto is part | of... | hnra wrote: | Tesla sold bitcoin before their last quarterly report. | They were about to underperform but thankfully their BTC | announcement made sure they could dump and then beat | earnings instead. | | Weirdly, they announced they would no longer accept BTC | (on grounds known for years) right after they dumped. | toast42 wrote: | https://www.coindesk.com/tesla-sold-bitcoin-in-q1-for- | procee... | | This was very easy to find, and makes me question your | position that you weren't aware of it. | Barrin92 wrote: | that sale appears to have taken place before any of the | communication, so that can't have been part of any | pump&dump scheme either. | watwut wrote: | Because Elon Musk is significantly more sane and did not | actually done very same thing. Having enough sanity to keep you | schemes just on the safer side help. He is also not accused of | rape and murder both of which make law enforcement look more | closely on you in general. | | Also, Musk is rich and powerful right now. That alone makes it | harder to go after him as he will pay for better justice. | McAffee is not that powerful. | jfrunyon wrote: | Because (according to the allegations) McAfee didn't pay the | tax man. | sschueller wrote: | Neither do Musk, Bezos, Soros etc. They just manage to get | away with it. I guess McAfee was just not rich enough and | didn't have the right tax attorney. | DFHippie wrote: | There's a difference between legally paying no taxes | despite being rich and illegally paying no taxes. The tax | laws need to be reformed, but that's a separate issue. | xtracto wrote: | In Spanish we use two terms, what McAfee presumably did was | "evasion"(evasion) which is illegal while what Musk,Bezos, | et al. do is "elusion" (avoidance) which is totally legal. | | The trick is in knowing how to do Tax Avoidance. | agumonkey wrote: | He also said he would eat is own anatomy regarding bitcoin | price.. I guess this bet is gonna happen in another dimension. | C19is20 wrote: | Doctor, doctor, my anatomy hurts? | NakamotoSatoshi wrote: | Respect where it's due. | KVFinn wrote: | Was just reading about McAfee freebasing bath salts from old | posts on an old Joe Rogan forum and not paying taxes seems like | the absolute least he was up to: | | >I've processed 23 kilos of this stuff in the past year or so, | and bump it myself every day - in fair quantities the | hypersexuality... is beyond belief. I have had a number of | acquaintances (both male and female) who have rubbed their | genitals way past the point of bleeding and still couldn't stop. | | >In all honesty, a first time user, or a user on a large dose, | when presented with food, will simply figure out a way to include | it in the ongoing sex play with their partner. If alone, they | will figure out a way to fuck it, or shove it up their rectum. | This is not a joke. Everything on the Tan becomes a sex partner | or a sex aid. If only visually. I will not, anymore, let anyone | on Tan be alone with my dogs for example. | | >A local brothel owner (prostitution is legal in my country) | talked me out of a large amount of Tan and provides it to his | working girls and their customers. The idea was to simply | increase business by having hornier customers and more authentic | product. It worked for a while, and then girls started taking | larger doses and giving customers larger doses. They began | leaving and running off with customers - some after a single | contact with the customer. | | >If a person takes a large dose of the Tan and has the misfortune | to have no partner at the time, then truly terrible things | happen. A number of men, and women, have molested strangers after | massive doses of the pure product (which is why I no longer | provide it to anyone other than trusted friends - everything else | is cut 50 to one). Twice, users on large doses have tried to | molest my dogs. | | >I have distributed over 3,000 doses exclusively in this country. | They call it SPT (I named it) and it is a seriously hot | underground topic here. I know of at least a dozen people who | spend virtually full time playing with this, and hundreds trying | to get samples, which I dole out with meticulous care. Anyone | caught sharing this with another without my consent doesn't get | any more. | | https://www.resetera.com/threads/john-mcafee-this-might-be-t... | CryptoPunk wrote: | Abolishing taxes on movable private property, in favor of a tax | on land ownership, would solve this. | | No one would be persecuted internationally because they refused | to surrender their privacy and property in filing an income tax | return and fulfilling the payment obligations imposed on them, | respectively. To enforce a land tax is straightforward: you don't | pay the tax, you are evicted from the land, and lose your rights | over it. Who owns what land is also always known, by virtue of | the fact that registry of a land title with the government is a | prerequisite of owning land. | | Economists also consider it "the perfect tax": | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-06-23 23:00 UTC)