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John McAfee's Latest Project: Shielding Against Surveillance
Nerval's Lobster writes "Now that he's finished dodging law enforcement and experimenting with chemicals, software designer John McAfee (founder of his eponymous antivirus company) has been building something that, if it actually works, could appeal to the paranoid: a device that blocks the government's ability to spy on PCs and mobile devices. The device, known as 'Dcentral,' will reportedly cost around $100 and fit into a pants pocket. In a speech at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center over the weekend, McAfee suggested that the hardware would create private device networks impenetrable to outsiders, even those with the most sophisticated technology. The network's range would be roughly three blocks; McAfee believes that he can have a prototype up and running within six months. Whether or not McAfee manages to get that prototype working on schedule, he's already ramping up to the release of something, having set up a 'Future Tense Central' Website with a countdown clock, a sleek logo, and a set of social-media buttons. McAfee is such an outsized figure ('I've always wandered close to the edge,' he once confessed to an audience) that it's sometimes tempting to take his latest claims with a moon-sized grain of salt—this is the same man, after all, who says he avoided a police manhunt in Belize by dressing up as a drunk German tourist. (And he's unafraid to parody his own Wild Man reputation online.) That aside, he's also an executive with a record of starting a financially successful company, which means that—no matter what else he's done in the intervening years—it's likely that he'll attract a little bit of attention, if not some funding, with his latest endeavor."
That is a really boring and unhelpful name for it.
I'll be really sad if the actual name of the device isn't "Fakeblock".
Onion Pi
Early testers have noted they "feel quite anonymous and undetectable" wearing the tinfoil hat, with no less than three extra layers of tinfoil to keep the NSA out.
For an extra $50, users can get a banner reading "Don't mind me, I'm anonymous." attached at no extra cost.
Have you read my journal today?
i think its called "Fake block"
"suggested that the hardware would create private device networks impenetrable to outsiders, even those with the most sophisticated technology" For the first '2' hours after its released.
This isn't news. You can already do this by buying the kit from adafruit.com or by buying one already built at PAPARouter.com(It's in the .sig). In short, Raspberry Pi + Debian + Tor. If you're browsing, make sure to use https everywhere.
He must be really tired from trying to stay relevant.
Well, going from anti-virus to full blown snake oil is not a complete change of direction.
Rethinking email
How exactly would this device work? Would both the software and hardware be open source? If I cant pick it apart I want to part of it.
A black box sitting on your network is at best a horrible exploit waiting to happen and at worst an NSA/DoD backdoor.
EFF.org has a great page about why https is so important to use with Tor. Also don't use Windows......ever
Neither of the linked articles provided any information about what the device is and how it works. Given their descriptions it could be anything from an extra transport level encryption layer to, as someone mentioned, a tinfoil hat. This is a bad article and the editors should feel bad.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
This sounds a lot like the encrypted darknet described by Cory Doctorow in his book "Little Brother". It was set up by a bunch of teenagers using Free Software and it allowed them to encrypt all of their communications and hide their identities.
The book, by the way, is freely available on his website.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brother_%28Doctorow_novel%29
It also sounds kind of like FreedomBox, which is a concept only slightly farther along than the fictional network from Doctorow's book: http://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/learn/
McAfee agrees to set up honeypot for 3-letter agencies in order to avoid investigation and possible prosecution.
.. staying relevant, supporting his ex-stripper bride and not going totally broke.
Seriously though, I love this guy. Who needs "Bering Sea Gold Dredgers", "Duck Dynasty" or "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" when Johnny Mac is out there, popping up in my news feeds like the lovably insane, Hunter S. Thompson-ish "tech Uncle" for us to slowly laugh at before going back to work?
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
Thanks for feeding "the only people who fear surveillance are those who have done something wrong" meme, jackhole!
* Does not work in Belize.
Staying in the headlines.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
"Now that he's finished dodging law enforcement..." Really? Did the police in Belize investigating the murder of John's neighbor solve the case, or, at least, rule out his possible involvement in the crime?
He needs to focus on Youtube vids instead of serious tech. He's past it, even by his own admission.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
And I'm going to trust a crazy fugitive with my data why?
He may be a person who is also interested in privacy, but I see no reason at all to trust him.
The crazy enemy of my enemy might have some valid points, but he's still a crazy person.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
John McAfee x Richard Branson
I doubt McAfee is building anything. He has admitted that he is a crap coder and pretty much paid engineers to write his AV software when he was in charge of the company. I doubt he can even remember how to write code. Most likely he had this idea and decided to throw some money at people to build it for him and then slap his name on it.
Though as much as I think he is a megalomaniacal attention whore, if he has the money and it can benefit people by creating a secure, isolated network then i'm all for it. Just don't tell people YOU are building it. Tell them, you are funding it.
The population density isn't that big, you can't build a p2p wireless internet.
Can I get this as a Tin Foil Cod Piece (+5 ELF Shield)? Makes a great pair with my current Tin Foil Hat. Many thanks.
As far as I know, governments have access to the data behind those social medias. Maybe you click on those icons and you get yourself flagged in a special list.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
How do you trust the device? Is it open-source hardware?
He's a scamster. Ever seen McAfee antivirus do anything useful except collect money? I see it in the field every day and it causes more problems than it catches.
Let us know when he shaves his head, grows a goatee, and starts wearing a black pork pie hat, dark sunglasses, oxford shirt with khakis and a dark jacket. Then he'll truly be media-whoring.
Than Mr. McAfee in software? I'd wager you haven't by comparison which makes you nothing more than some jealous little pitiful disgruntled wannabe and nothing more.
So you are saying it is basically like Windows?
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Hopefully he doesn't overdose before his invention is finished.
Worth a checkout if you are looking for a private digital storage/private media library/private social network solution: https://register.blib.us/ (allows fast search/sharing)
...Carnivore's successor.
As any commercial entity in US he will need to hand over the keys to NSA at the first request. What's the purpose of this?
Who else would intentionally try to do something with his or her life and reputation that someone on the fringe, who understands tech, has worked with businesses that are definitely not mainstream - and are oppressive (like the military or borderline criminal), nevertheless has a sense of belonging to a global mankind, is somehow pushed over the edge (whether by drugs, ego trips, gender identity persecution, whatever), and feels a need for privacy and maybe sticking it in the eye of the people in power so strongly? This seems to connect people like RMS, Kim Dotcom, John McAffee, and Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange. I would say give him a big benefit of the doubt and good luck. As for the information-less website, well the music and mystery may appeal to McAffee. Just the idea that someone thinks such a device is necessary and is putting some effort into it is useful. And maybe others who are working on similar ideas will contact him and get some money from him or his backers.