John McAfee dumps VICE after photo metadata reveal; "Obviously, legal proceedings are under way."

A strange statement published on the vanity site whoismcafee.com:

Based on new information. Mr. McAfee is terminating his relationship with Vice Magazine. Due to information just received, It is no longer clear to Mr. McAfee that the “accidental” release of his co-ordinates due to Vice Magazine’s editorial department’s failure to remove location data from their now notorious photo, was indeed an accident. This incident led directly to Mr. McAfee’s arrest. The reason, possibly, was that Vice wanted exclusive access to Mr. McAfee’s arrest, which they in fact obtained and broadcast. This, and subsequent developments, including a breach of verbal contract, has led Mr. McAfee to terminate all contact with Vice.
Mr. McAfee does not believe that the two reporters travelling with him knew in advance, or in any way aided and abetted Vice’s plan to “out” him.
This blog will continue as normal beginning later this afternoon. Obviously, legal proceedings are under way.

Obviously.

For those new to the story, the antivirus company bajillionaire is wanted in Belize over the alleged murder of his neighbor. VICE traveled with him on what was touted as an exclusive investigative reporting spree, and published a photograph while he was on the lam in Guatemala that contained geolocating metadata. Mat Honan of Wired spotted it (like a boss). Vice issued a statement. And today, McAfee did, too.

As BB commenter Brainspore says in the thread below, "If only one of the people at that photo shoot knew something about internet security!"

My money's on this whole photo thing being more of McAfee's pranking/obfuscation/security through smoke and mirrors/crazy paranoid scamming.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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Brainspore

It is no longer clear to Mr. McAfee that the “accidental” release of his co-ordinates due to Vice Magazine’s editorial department’s failure to remove location data from their now notorious photo, was indeed an accident.

If only one of the people at that photo shoot knew something about internet security!
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  You beat me to it. He should have provided journalists with a BMP file.
  - morcheeba
    
    animated .gif would have been just as secure but more l33t :-)
http://twitter.com/openfly ǝɔʎoſ ʇʇɐW

And you wonder why the US military hates embedding reporters.
- Brainspore
  
  On the contrary, the U.S. military loves embedding reporters. It’s a great way to ensure all the news coverage is one-sided.
  
  “Frankly, our job is to win the war. Part of that is information warfare. So we are going to attempt to dominate the information environment.”
  
  —Lt. Col. Rick Long, USMC Head of Media Relations
  - Ipo
    
    Yes, the military loves it, soldiers often don’t.
http://www.eff.org/ deaduncledave

I’m on the lam. I’m a high-profile target, worth millions. And then I decide that it’s a GREAT idea to give an interview.

Really, John? That was your train of thought? “I can totally publicize my side of the story, while thumbing my nose at the po-po!”

This nutbar /deserved/ to be caught.
- http://twitter.com/sxipshirey sxip shirey
  
  a great idea to give an interview with VICE no less..
  - http://www.eff.org/ deaduncledave
    
    Worst. Super villain. EVAR.
    - http://www.alwayssababa.com/ lishevita
      
      or best. He’s just like in the comic books!!
    - invictus
      
      If that’s your idea of supervillain, your imagination has suffered a catastrophic failure and needs to be rebooted.
      - http://www.eff.org/ deaduncledave
        
        I did say worst, didn’t I? Hell, he doesn’t even have a shark tank, spent all his cash on drugs. Laaaaame.
      - invictus
        
        Point. Objection withdrawn.
        
        I wonder, will the second-worst supervillain have a large fish tank filled with really, really ill-tempered guppies?
    - Cory Trevor
      
      Yes, underestimate him. Little do you know, he MEANT to get caught!
      - http://www.eff.org/ deaduncledave
        
        He totally has us right where we want him! :-O
dark

>a breach of verbal contract

hahaha
verbal contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on…
- Boundegar
  
  Especially when one of the parties is imaginary.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=632105328 Michael Best

Personally I’d probably go with negligence since it’s an easier answer. What were they taking the photos with if it had GPS info, ah, yes, iPhone 4S.
- teapot
  
  Many models of cameras (not just phones) include GPS geolocation in the metadata.
Cowicide

Gee, I wonder why I never really trusted crap apps like Mcafee VirusScan, etc…
brandonmwest

Totes obvi
awjt

Must a been mcafee software
http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm

“And further, I will show that my client was injured by the actions of VICE Magazine, whose negligence led directly to him being arrested, charged and convicted for criminal acts(*) that he had committed. Furthermore, I will ask the court to take into account the mental suffering experienced by my client: having previously believed himself to be above the law, you may imagine, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the mental distress that he felt when he discovered that he was not, distress that was directly attributable to the inexcusable conduct of the defendants.”

(*) Entering Guatemala illegally, at least; murder, possibly.

Yeah, that’ll work.
- Xof
  
  Excuse me, I have to go sue all of the cops who pulled me over for upsetting me and making me late for work.
- Brainspore
  
  Fun fact: to enter Guatemala “legally” in that region you actually have to pay a bribe to the border agents, but the bribery is so longstanding and entrenched in local culture that it’s pretty much like paying any other fee. Travel guides even tell you exactly how much you should expect to pay (not an especially large sum, something like $15 if memory serves).
  - rocketpjs
    
    I paid the ‘fee’ without even realizing it was a bribe until days later. His fee would probably have been a bit more, but not much.
    - Brainspore
      
      The giveaway is what happens if you ask them for a receipt.
Sean Hyde-Moyer

General Zod has really let himself go…
- Preston Sturges
  
  I would have said Danny Bonaduce.
franko

oh, what a tangled web we weave….
daev

Lessee here…

✔ surround yourself with drug cartel bodyguards
✔ try to bribe local officials with said bodyguards
✔ have a rotating cast of young hoes on hand
✔ operate a designer stimulant lab for yourself and said hoes
✔ make invited media nervous with arms and borderline paranoia
✔ have a dead neighbor and poisoned dogs after having issues with said neighbor over said dogs
✔ running from the cops when they want to know WTF is up with that shit
✔ being too fucking stupid to understand EXIF data after founding an AV company

PROFIT!

Man, this guy’s got it all figgered out.
rocketpjs

My money is on a series of micro-strokes and maybe some early onset deterioration. It doesn’t seem like he’s been leading an ascetic life, and he seems to be going deeper down the crazy hole each day.

Whatever else he was, you don’t build a billion dollar company by being that crazy – something gives much earlier, even in dot-com mania. So the crazy is likely more recent. I could almost feel for him, almost.
http://profiles.google.com/spacewatcer Marios P.

lol
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1036892783 Kris Rogers

I would recommend reading his blog if you believe that every story has more than one side.
- Xof
  
  The great part is that he provides two or three of the sides all by himself.
peterblue11

VICE are fuckin idiots.and nowhere near clever enough to go ‘vice’ for the FBI.
Michael Haggerty

It’s all part of his plan to rid the universe of the Doctor once and for all!