

McAfee vows to make Internet 'impossible to hack' - jaryd
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/24/203134/exclusive-john-mcafee-vows-to.html

======
crunchcaptain
Talk is cheap. This guy is a clown.

"My new technology is going to provide a new type of Internet, a
decentralized, floating and moving Internet that is impossible to hack,
impossible to penetrate and vastly superior in terms of its facility and
neutrality. It solves all of our security concerns," McAfee said in an
interview with the San Jose Mercury News.

~~~
ds9
He seems a little crazy, actually.

From the sketchy description it might be some new protocol on top of TCP/IP.

One must be wary of such ideas, because the idea of "security" might be
control by a central authority and forced authentication - but such schemes
are antithetical to "security" from the viewpoint of users. If on the other
hand it were really secure from the users' point of view, governments and
corporations would never tolerate it and would just set about hacking the
endpoints anyway.

~~~
greyfade
> He seems a little crazy, actually.

Have you seen this?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg)
(NSFW video _by_ McAfee)

~~~
jlgaddis
Wow. I would hang out with that guy.

------
electic
They haven't made my computer impossible to hack in 20 years, so going to just
call it and say they will likely fail here as well.

~~~
jlgaddis
Kinda makes sense, since he sold the company 19 years ago.

(You didn't RTFA (obviously) or you'd know that "McAfee" is referring to John
McAfee -- not McAfee, Inc., owned by Intel -- but don't let that stop you from
making a disparaging remark.)

------
bifrost
As much as I think McAfee is nuts, he's also a pretty smart guy if you look at
what he's done in the past, so I wouldn't reall underestimate him.

That said, an "unhackable" internet isn't exactly possible since you'd
probably have to use the existing internet to get to this "other" internet. I
could also see this turning into another AlterNic debacle, so who knows.

~~~
jacquesm
McAfee _used_ to be a pretty smart guy. Asylums the world over are full of
people that _used_ to be really smart.

~~~
bifrost
Well, thats a good point too. But still, crazy people make good products all
the time...

~~~
krapp
Yes but they mostly make them out of tinfoil.

His being 'crazy' doesn't necessarily make him a genius and neither makes what
he wants to accomplish possible.

------
tlrobinson
From the guy who produced this (NSFW) video, "How To Uninstall McAfee
Antivirus"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg)
(NSFW)

This is going to be entertaining...

------
ajarmst
That's nice. I haven't had a chance to use the word "hubris" in a while.

------
smosher
Oh, _John_ McAffee, not the company.

------
orblivion
Well, as long as it's open source, it doesn't matter how unhinged the author
is, right?

------
bichiliad
I hate to focus on the least relevant parts of the article, but when it says
he "buried himself in the sand to hide from police," is that metaphorically or
literally speaking?

~~~
pault
Literally. Source: I live a few miles from his old compound.

~~~
anjc
Any gossip on all the scandal? Was he known in the area as violent or
aggressive?

~~~
pault
Short answer: it's a mystery; long answer: it's a small island and the gossip
is wild and unreliable, but he was definitely involved in some shady stuff.
That having been said, contract killings and disappearances are not unheard of
here (just not usually this high-profile). Only a few people really know what
happened and aren't talking, but I wouldn't be surprised if either story
turned out to be true (he was set up / it was him). I do know that his assets
were seized and quickly auctioned off, so you have to wonder where that money
went and what kind of incentives it created. It's a very small country with a
very limited government, which while generally safer and less corrupt than
other central american nations, creates an environment where wealthy and well-
connected people can sweep a _lot_ of questionable activity under the rug. He
certainly had a lot of enemies, and enough wealth to be coveted, but he was
also pretty unstable and by all accounts a bit detached from reality. None of
the scenarios floated are as outlandish as they might seem to outsiders.

~~~
jlgaddis
> ... I wouldn't be surprised if either story turned out to be true (he was
> set up / it was him). I do know that his assets were seized and quickly
> auctioned off, ...

I recall hearing that and thinking "how convenient" at the time. It did not
see unreasonable to me that it would be very easy for the local government to
claim that he did it, convict him, and lock him up for life, while also take
over his property and assets in the process. As you said:

> ... you have to wonder where that money went and what kind of incentives it
> created.

Like most people (apparently) I do think that McAfee is "a few fries short of
a Happy Meal" but "his side" did seem quite plausible.

------
0xdeadbeefbabe
What a relief. Can I invest in his company? Does he take bitcoins?

------
winslow
Wow, I had no idea that McAfee was a party animal or lived the life he did.

The part I found interesting is "How are they (Belizean authorities) going to
whack me if every newspaper in the world is looking?" That gave me the feeling
that this might be another one of his blog posts.

------
Millennium
To think that a person counted on for security by so many people would know so
little about his field as to ever make a promise like this. Frightening stuff.

~~~
neeee
McAfee hasn't had anything to do with McAfee Inc. for more than 10 years.

------
webmaven
Cue the quote from Rob Enderle. That guy pops up everywhere, he's the hallmark
of lazy tech and business journalists on a deadline.

------
teilo
Sit back and grab some popcorn. This should be fun.

------
yeukhon
Sure impossible to hack. What can I steal from him?

------
brubaker
He also asked: "Does anyone else see those dragons?"

~~~
FLUX-YOU
Someone get this guy a One-time padded cell

------
MarkTanamil
This guy is the mad scientist of the tech world.

~~~
tptacek
What "science" has he contributed?

~~~
debacle
I think that the GP meant figuratively, rather than literally, e.g. "Lady Gaga
is the mad scientist of the music world."

~~~
tptacek
Well, Lady Gaga is also a songwriter and composer. What _technology_ has
McAfee really contributed?

