John McAfee Explains How He Milked Information From Belize's Elite 275
paysonwelch points out John McAfee's latest blog post, which "details the complex spy network that he used to tap information from the highest echelons of the Belizean government. He might consider a new career as a movie producer — this blog post is enthralling. Here is an excerpt: 'I purchased 75 cheap laptop computers and, with trusted help, intalled invisible keystroke logging software on all of them — the kind that calls home (to me) and disgorges the text files. I began giving these away as presents to select people — government employees, police officers, Cabinet Minister's assistants, girlfriends of powerful men, boyfriends of powerful women.'"
Two words: (Score:5, Insightful)
Nut Job
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Megalomania. Is that in the DSM? Ah, wiki says no, it's a type of narcissistic personality disorder.
One word: paranoia! (Score:2)
Megalomania. Is that in the DSM? Ah, wiki says no, it's a type of narcissistic personality disorder.
How about paranoia [wikipedia.org]!
One word. (Score:3)
Asshole.
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Or he could be a nut job.
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This fascination with McAfee rivals the "Diana is still dead" nonsense (including the annual repeats).
one word (Score:2)
Nut Job
May I suggest "pervert" as an alternative?
Can't wait for the movie... (Score:5, Funny)
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ROFLMAO, yeah Gary Busey would be great for the part, either that or Nick Nolte. What amazes me about this case more and more is that somebody in authority, either than the government of Belize, would just have him submit to a psychiatric evaluation or have him committed as a nut job. He has enough money I'm sure they could get Dr. Phil to go take a whack at it.
Re:Two words: (Score:5, Insightful)
This is one of the places where the story rings false. Given any 30 people involved in full-time spying on dozens of other people, it is _inevitable_ that at least one of them would notify the police of this operation. Not only because the activity is illegal, but because very few people can keep quiet about what their wage paying job is for an extended period, and they would inevitably inform lovers, family, or friends. That then multiplies the number of people who might inform on the operation in a plea bargain.
For anyone who's been involved in handling security of any kind, such as a shared administrative password or simply keeping a corporate merger private before the public announcement, it's simply not feasible: it _will_ leak out with many participants.
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This is one of the places where the story rings false. Given any 30 people involved in full-time spying on dozens of other people, it is _inevitable_ that at least one of them would notify the police of this operation. Not only because the activity is illegal, but because very few people can keep quiet about what their wage paying job is for an extended period, and they would inevitably inform lovers, family, or friends. That then multiplies the number of people who might inform on the operation in a plea bargain.
For anyone who's been involved in handling security of any kind, such as a shared administrative password or simply keeping a corporate merger private before the public announcement, it's simply not feasible: it _will_ leak out with many participants.
===
You would have to know that there was spy software on the laptop. You do trust new toys, don't you.
What was the TROY horse for?
you only hear about blabbers (Score:4, Insightful)
This is one of the places where the story rings false. Given any 30 people involved in full-time spying on dozens of other people, it is _inevitable_ that at least one of them would notify the police of this operation. Not only because the activity is illegal
You only hear about the cases where people blab...
Also: people blab when it's in their perceived interests. If you live in a country where leadership is bumping off political protesters, there is much less self interest in admitting that you've been helping some rich American engage in espionage. The problem with being brutal and corrupt is that a)it makes people hate you b)it is excellent incentive to not blab about things you're doing against the government.
There also can be plenty of blabbing, just not to anyone who is in power or those associated with them. Information doesn't flow freely - it tends to be like the ocean, with thermoclines representing class/power levels, political affiliation, religion, language, etc. Damn near everyone in a city who works as an office cleaner could know that Joe Big Bank Executive is banging his secretary after-hours, for example.
An even better example would probably be DC. I bet there's all sorts of bullshit that everyone in political/diplomatic circles in DC knows about, but your average person off the street doesn't.
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Given any 30 people involved in full-time spying on dozens of other people, it is _inevitable_ that at least one of them would notify the police of this operation.
correct. in TFA, one of the people he trusts betrays him.
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If he wasn't in trouble before (Score:5, Interesting)
He certainly is now.
If I were in charge, I would send him to Belize as a show of good faith.
deport? (Score:2)
He probably has been in trouble for a long time...or at least running with a bad crowd.
It will catch up to him, but I don't know if there is any reason to deport him.
As far as his blog ("TFA") goes, it could be anything. Maybe he thinks he's been working for a gov't...maybe he thinks he's above international law...
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Beware of geeks bearing gifts.
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He's in trouble, all right, but the trouble is mostly inside his head.
Slashbloat (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Slashbloat (Score:5, Funny)
You just wish Peter Norton was this awesome. Fucking superspy.
Re:Slashbloat (Score:5, Funny)
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I only use duck tape and WD40 - just about holding it together and slowly creaking along.
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No one knows when you are a good spy!
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I call BS. My proof? James Bond.
The best kind of spy is the one who can keep spying despite the fact that absolutely everyone knows exactly who he is, and knows of his penchant for martinis, loose women and gambling.
Re:Slashbloat (Score:4, Funny)
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I mod you up 1000000000 for that.
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Just wait until he blogs about bribing his way out of Belize with BitCoin.
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Just wait until he blogs about bribing his way out of Belize with BitCoin.
Or if some of those computer gifts were Raspberry Pi's. :)
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And also, "milking" implies coaxing/persuading stuff out of people. This is just data theft (or "fraudulently gaining access to other's private information", if you're anal about that)
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McAfee serves the role as the Lindsay Lohan of the Geek World. Poor folks love to read about rich folks looking like dumb-asses by finding unfeasible trouble to get themselves into.
Most of us hear have not become billionaires with our work in the tech industry. It's sometimes refreshing to hear that, despite them having billions, they still do dorky things.
Or something like that . . .
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That's newsworthy, assuming he isn't completely making everything up.
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We need some kind of heuristics, or some other method of inoculating us against bad antivirus jokes.
How about some good innocuous ... oh, never mind.
Not possible. (Score:2)
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I have to call BS, I live along the border of Belize and nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE can you find electronics that cheap. Electronics are gold in these countries.
Custom forms are bullshitted every day.
Re:Not possible. (Score:5, Interesting)
I generally live in Belize 1/4 of the year now, and its certainly possible to get Chinese generic laptops very cheap here. Much cheaper than in America.
Re:Not possible. (Score:5, Funny)
>> Chinese generic laptops very cheap here
Plus they come preloaded with spyware.
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One less thing to install, then. Just reconfigure it andgift it away to powerful people.
Re:Not possible. (Score:4, Funny)
If only there were a way to detect such things -- you know, some sort of program that can locate and maybe even remove the offending code. Someone who could produce and sell such a thing would surely do well...
Re:Not possible. (Score:4, Interesting)
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Understandably I guess, you feel really awesome when you've done something that (you think) few people can do.
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Possible alternative explanation (Score:4, Informative)
He might consider a new career as a movie producer — this blog post is fictional.
FTFH?
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Trusting anti-virus producers (Score:4, Insightful)
No doubt J McAfee will explain his actions as totally justified and honourable.
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Unless it's for the Wii
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
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More seriously, is there any reason to believe that he wouldn't do the same thing with the software he sells--the ultimate trojan on your machine . . .
hawk
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Don't you see? It's all a part of the plan. You will need a new license of McAfee anti-virus software to be able to protect yourself from these new pieces of surveillance malware. Norton will not do.
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Knowledge isn't ethics; knowledge is power. I doubt he founded his AV company as a personal moral crusade, but did it like everybody else to make money in a niche in which he thought he could excel.
the story is a bit more complicated. in the 80s (Score:3)
the rise of the 'computer virus' was not as clean cut as we remember it. there were people who actively 'played' the 'news cycle' of the day to promote the idea of huge virus attacks. McAfee was just another one of these.
The problems come when some people start wondering --- where exactly did the viruses come from in the first place. Now there is no evidence that McAfee wrote viruses or spread malware --- but here we can see that he has no moral qualms about doing it. Hence - his entire 80s business was not
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In the article he accused Iran/Hezbollah of planning a massive ricin gas attack in the US. He also accused the prime minister of Belize of ordering the murder of a prisoner (the actual murder did happen, that's been independently verified).
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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"Anyway, are there really people out there dumb enough to accept a computer from ANY source and use it without completely reformatting it and reinstalling their own OS?"
Yes. Hell, people have done studies where they left USB keys lying in the parking lots of major corporations. People happily took 'em inside, plugged them in and starting copying confidential data to them.
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I would say that's probably pretty accurate. People just unpackage the system, set it up, turn it on and use it. Furthermore, I wouldn't trust the OEM Windows re-installers either since they tend to just install all that OEM shit right back with the OS. That basically makes it a royal pain in the ass to reinstall Windows in trusted form on a modern computer without buying yet another license to the OS in the form of the official retail version.
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That's why I always install Linux with the encrypted home folder option checked.
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Yeah... but I was taking into account the fact that if these people aren't even sophisticated enough to reinstall a copy of Windows, then they sure as hell won't know how anything about Linux.
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I'm guessing about 99.9 percent of people don't reinstall the OS after acquiring a computer.
And yet that doesn't change the validity of the GP comment one whit.
Please can we stop it with the John McAfee stories (Score:2, Insightful)
This first one was interesting but seriously; does Slashdot need to 're-blog' everything he says and does?
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Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
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As I wouldnt particularly trust any western court to vindicate me on minor issues I think a man who has royally pissed of the powers that be in a 2nd world country is wise to stay as far away from "justice" as he possibly can. The only difference between multinational corporate bully boys and sovereign nations is that one thinks its above the law and lets everyone know it, while the other knows its above the law and would rather people thought otherwise.
This is why we have a man who had consentual sex with
Where is the CIA in this??? (Score:2)
> I think a man who has royally pissed of the powers
>that be in a 2nd world country is wise to stay as far
>away from "justice" as he possibly can.
Where is the CIA in all this? And the Navy?
How did Belize fall into the Soviet sphere of influence? I thought the Monroe Doctrine was quite clear on US use of force in such matters . . .
hawk
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I don't believe he was ever charged with murder. They wanted him for questioning, which is not extraditable by itself.
There is no murder (or other) charge yet (Score:5, Informative)
He didn't. He is a person of interested wanted for questioning, not a charged criminal. If he was a charged criminal, fleeing to the US wouldn't help, as the US has an extradition treaty [oas.org] with Belize that provides for the extradition of criminals charged with any of a wide array of crimes, including, naturally, as #1 on the list, murder.
You mean, other than the fact that Belize hasn't criminally charged him with anything, much less anything subject to the extradition treaty with the US?
Or, for that matter, anywhere else. Because he hasn't actually been charged with any crimes, anywhere.
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He didn't. He is a person of interested wanted for questioning, not a charged criminal. If he was a charged criminal, fleeing to the US wouldn't help, as the US has an extradition treaty [oas.org] with Belize that provides for the extradition of criminals charged with any of a wide array of crimes, including, naturally, as #1 on the list, murder.
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explain how he sidestepped a murder charge from a soverign nation
It was really easy. He was never charged with murder. That's why he hasn't been extradited either, because there isn't even a warrant for his arrest.
McAfee is not a drug addict (Score:3, Informative)
As someone who knows many drug addicts and used to be one himself over 15 years ago: John McAfee's blog is not the writing of a drug addict. Either he is as clear from drugs as he says he is or he has someone else write the stuff for him.
Re:McAfee is not a drug addict (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know, Philip K. Dick or Hunter S. Thompson could have wrote that in their sleep. :D
Hell, it reads almost like one of Dick's short stories.
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As someone who knows many drug addicts and used to be one himself over 15 years ago: John McAfee's blog is not the writing of a drug addict. Either he is as clear from drugs as he says he is or he has someone else write the stuff for him.
Yes, cause all drug users are obviously the same.
Just because he doesn't write like Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac or Horselover Fat doesn't mean he's not on drugs.
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Just something to think about for the future: that was a great post up until the moment you threw in the disgusting stereotype about drunk irishmen. If you'd just left out that phrase, I'd be thinking to myself "hunh, what an insightful comment" rather than "christ, look at this racist twat."
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It's just their culture. Nothing racist about it.
Q: "Why did God create Whisky?"
A: "To prevent the Irish from taking over the world."
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You're just stupid, nothing more.
I myself as well as a few people I know have/were drug addicts to the extreme and were perfectly capable of hiding it from direct relation sometimes even those that lived with us. Hell I did it for years by just being 'discrete' about it and it wasn't until I brought it up that other people found out I did drugs even though I was pretty much high the entire time I was around them for YEARS.
Just because you are unable to function and be a drug addict doesn't mean the rest of
Sounds rather self-incriminating to me... (Score:2, Insightful)
Or not?
I mean spyware on other people's computers sounds pretty criminal to me.
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Hey, they were free gifts to those people given one. And no one forced any of them to just trust it and not manually wipe and re-install a known clean OS.
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Self-incrimination is the next "Big Thing" in the Internet. Commit a crime, and then post a video about it on YouTube or Facebook. Some notable examples:
The kids teasing the bus lady.
High school football players bragging about raping an unconscious teenage girl.
Drunk driver hit and run.
And now the McGaffster himself.
If this trend continues, it will make police work easier. Forget expensive DNA analysis and detective work. Just search for confessions on the Internet.
Now, if these confessions are su
Poor Intel (Score:2)
The brand name McAfee is getting thoroughly trashed. Now all that remains from the purchase is a bloated digital placebo software.
McAfee Has keylogers in it that phones home (Score:2)
McAfee Has keylogers in it that phones home that must be why it's so slow.
no wonder (Score:2)
And McAfee wonders why the Belize government is out to get him? This kind of crime easily would carry a very long prison sentence in most countries.
Why is nobody stating the obvious? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is clearly bullshit.
At every turn, he attaches quantities to resources:
75 cheap laptops
23 women
6 men
8 of the women lived with him
2 people in the Nicaraguan Hezbollah camp
3 people in Mexico dealing with the Zetas
The only "evidence" supporting his story are his "so easy to fake my kids could it" screenshots and audio files.
I think the original assessment stands: This is a guy who has snorted waaaay too much MPDV, is seeing shadow men in bushes, and killed his neighbor in retaliation for his neighbor killing his dog.
He escaped the country via a combination of his charisma, money, and the ineptitude of the Belize law enforcement.
This is all just a retroactive attempt at explaining why the Belize government would want to frame him. Look, it's simple...why would Belize kill his neighbor to frame McAfee, when they could simply just kill McAfee instead?
Paranoid bullshit, and so obviously so.
Ya pretty much (Score:4, Insightful)
I can believe in corrupt police framing people, heck we've seen them do it across the globe. I can believe in corrupt police murdering people, again, we've seen it. But why would they murder someone, to frame someone else? That seems like a "supervillian" move, meaning needlessly complex to achieve the actual goal. Just murder the person you want killed and be done with it.
There is just no credibility to this guy.
Also, as a practical matter, if what he says about all this information grabbing is true, he's probably guilty of a bunch of computer crimes in Belize too. He certainly would be in the US. You can't just go and keylog people because you want to.
He puts super perv powder up his (Score:2)
Look a gift laptop in the mouth (Score:2)
So, the real lesson here is not to accept and technological gifts from a security guru. Gee, thanks!
Precis (Score:4, Informative)
After the GSU raid on McAfee's Orange Walk compound he decided to go on the offensive.
He gave away 75 cheap laptops complete with keyloggers and backdoors to key people in the GOB. He backed these up with human spies.
Things he claims or implies to have discovered:
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The biggest thing here is that Iran/Hezbollah is sneaking manufacturing ricin and bringing it into the US for an attack. If he's right, we're either going to
Is it real? You never know. (Score:2)
You can't discount this stuff just because you don't believe it's possible that one man and his team could have dug all this stuff up. Motivated individuals can do quite a lot, if they have lots and lots of time, money, and focus. Apparently he has all three.
A lot of stuff here could cause problems for Belize, but really, the big problem for McAfee is he's now a bona-fide target. Before, he was just some pain in the ass. Now he's probably become a target of opportunity. Depending on how this plays in Belize
I always thought... (Score:3)
... that the people with the most interest in putting malware on computers were the very same people who sold you software to remove it. So I don't find this in the least surprising.
Reminds me... (Score:3)
Makes me wonder (besides the obvious drugs) what flips in someones head to make them bonkers like this.
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Re:Time for a CIA Drone attack. (Score:4, Insightful)
I would like to extend the mandate for drone killings to people who decide that people should be killed because they're irritating.