

McAfee Security founder wanted for murder in Belize - Reltair
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/11/mcafee-security-founder-wanted-for-murder-in-belize/

======
jacquesm
Let's wait with the hanging until the verdict is in.

"John McAfee, who founded the antivirus software giant named after him, is
wanted for questioning by police in Belize who are investigating the murder of
a 52-year-old man, CBS reported today.

According to the report, police are searching for the killer of Gregory Viant
Faull, an American expat. Gizmodo reported earlier today that McAfee was
wanted for the crime, but CBS, quoting Rafael Martinez, spokesman for the
Belize National Security Ministry, said it would be incorrect to call McAfee a
suspect at this time. "

From: [http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57548458-83/antivirus-
pione...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57548458-83/antivirus-pioneer-
mcafee-sought-for-questioning-in-murder-case/)

There is plenty of smoke here, even a smoking gun but it would be premature to
conclude McAfee handled the gun and if he did that it was murder.

------
tptacek
Highly recommend you click through to the drug forum posts (he's
"stuffmonger").

~~~
nkurz
OK, I've read it. Thanks for the recommendation. Yes, it is an extremely
interesting thread: :[http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/541627-Hello-and-an-
MDPV-...](http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/541627-Hello-and-an-MDPV-
Question)

My impression is that McAfee is a brilliant fraud, trying his best to
communicate something he feels is of great value but constantly tripped up by
some innate compulsion to embellish. On the other hand, he's one of the most
articulate and lucid characters in the thread. While there are a few other
mentally intact and highly intelligent posters, I picture him as the hapless
35-year-old sixth-grader in Miss Mandible's classroom:
<http://www.coldbacon.com/writing/barthelme-mandible.html>

Is it more of a surprise that he's comes across as genuine, fully coherent,
and rational, or that most of those consuming drugs made in their kitchen
based on questionable mail-order supplies and loose online descriptions have
to be reminded several times that baking powder is not the same as baking
soda? My other main impression is that many of the journalists attempting to
summarize the thread in various online venues share the reading comprehension
level of the latter.

------
jonnathanson
It's a shame he had to go crackpot. The original reason behind his move to
Belize -- or at least the publically stated reason -- was to research a new
class of antibiotics, known as quorum-sensing inhibitors (QSIs).

Long story short, these drugs would inhibit bacterial growth _without_
creating resistances. If they pan out, they're a revolution in antimicrobial
medicine.

~~~
dsl
That is simply not a true statement.

He met Allison Adonizio (who introduced him to QSI) long after he moved to
Belize. They managed to synthesize a compound that was already patented by a
big pharm company, but produced no original research.

It is not hard to figure out John moved to Belize because of the lax drug
enforcement and age of consent laws.

~~~
daeken
> It is not hard to figure out John moved to Belize because of the lax drug
> enforcement and age of consent laws.

Lax drug enforcement, sure, but age of consent? It's 16. There are dozens of
countries where it's significantly lower -- many 12 or 13. Don't see why
that'd be much of a motivator, even if that's your thing; most US states are
16 too, IIRC.

~~~
mullingitover
Heck, if he really was a filthy perv he could've gone to Spain, where age of
consent is 13.

~~~
celticninja
or he could join the catholic church where they dont worry about that sort of
thing

------
danso
Let's give credit where credit is due: Gizmodo exclusively broke this story,
not just of McAfee's post-software adventures, but of his current status as a
murder suspect:

<http://gizmodo.com/5959812/john-mcafee-wanted-for-murder>

~~~
celticninja
but it is also part of the gawker family, so fuck them.

~~~
danso
Uh, so? Judge pieces of work on an individual basis.

~~~
celticninja
I am reading it for the information it conveys not the emotions it evokes.

------
bitfed
Bath salts: "Since then, McAfee has reportedly been spending his time
researching MDPV, a stimulant that can produce similar effects to
methamphetamine. It is illegal in the United States." 0.o

~~~
chimeracoder
Unfortunately, in itself, that statement means very little to me:

> a stimulant that can produce similar effects to methamphetamine

That can describe many substances, both legal and illegal: street meth,
Adderall, Vyvanse, Desoxyn, MDMA - the list goes on. Even caffeine could be
said to produce 'similar effects' - both are stimulants and diuretics that
have comparable _in vivo_ half-life times (depending on the means of
ingestion).

> It is illegal in the United States.

Well, that doesn't mean much. Methamphetamine is illegal, except when it isn't
(prescribed). And the US drug scheduling (which determines the degrees of
legality) is so nonsensical that it may as well be randomly generated for all
it tells us about the relative dangers and harms of a substance.

~~~
tptacek
There's not much innuendo involved here. The article pretty directly links to
MDVP. Go look it up on Erowid; it's not particularly inert stuff.

~~~
chimeracoder
> The article pretty directly links to MDVP. Go look it up on Erowid

My point is that this is a rather irresponsible journalistic statement. If
they want to portray MDVP as a dangerous substance, that's a pretty terrible
comparison that fails to get the point across to anybody who knows a thing or
two about psychoactive substances.

~~~
dsl
> anybody who knows a thing or two about psychoactive substances

Which is arguably a single digit percentage of ars readers.

~~~
chimeracoder
Would you rather assume your readers are knowledgeable and help them rise to
the occasion, or assume that they're ignorant and one day be proven correct?

My background in journalism has taught me to favor the former.

~~~
mindslight
I'm confused. Are you trying to say that you don't have a background in
journalism? Or you do, but it's just decades old from a time when the goal was
to inform and not just get page views? Modern journalistic tack is to write
sensationalist scare stories targeted at the least common denominator moron,
as they'll be the most outraged and hang on every update.

~~~
chimeracoder
> Modern journalistic tack is to write sensationalist scare stories targeted
> at the least common denominator moron, as they'll be the most outraged and
> hang on every update.

I don't think it's a coincidence that most modern journalism isn't worth
reading, IMHO.

> Or you do, but it's just decades old from a time when the goal was to inform
> and not just get page views?

It's not decades old - I just like to think we did a good job of writing
informative pieces instead of sensationalist nonsense.

At least, we made a very, very dedicated effort to follow journalistic ethics
- I'll let others be the judge on how well we succeeded. :-)

------
zik
His software murdered my computer too.

~~~
tptacek
Back in the days when McAfee still worked there, it was a genuinely useful
program.

------
kristofferR
The McAfee story is getting more interesting and weird every month it seems. I
wonder what will happen next. Will he flee to another country, safe from
prosecution, or will he be caught? Etc

When the story ends (likely by suicide or imprisonment unfortunately) somebody
should really make a movie about it.

------
cancerballs
MDPV can seriously fuck you up. It's the most potential stimulant I've ever
used. If McAfee was researching it, he was using it. It's one of those drugs I
recommend you to be extra careful with.

------
chimeracoder
I'm surprised nobody has pointed this out, but the title really should be
changed - he has not been charged, and is merely a 'person of interest', which
is _very_ different from saying that he is _wanted_.

[http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/11/12/mcafee-
be...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/11/12/mcafee-belize-
murder-sanpedro.html)

