Can't pick your neighbors...

John McAfee wanted for questioning in murder case

My favorite internet comment so far:

"And anyway, I'm not sure what John [McAfee]'s worried about. I'm sure the Belize authorities will give him a free 30 day trial."

What's hilarious is that, when I heard the news yesterday, my first instinct was to come post here so you could see it because he was in Belize. You beat me to it. :-)

So they say... you know you can't belize everything you read on the internet.

I think the most hilarious aspect is that he's been evading authorities (who he says will kill him) for "months" yet he has no intentions of leaving the country, because he considers it the nicest place on Earth.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/11/threatlevel_1112_mcafee

With only 300,000 people in the country and a relatively small expat community, it doesn't take long for word to get around. I've never managed to run into John, mostly because I never go out to San Pedro, but it's not uncommon to run into people like him in the supermarket or when dining out.

So what's the deal with burying himself in sand then?

Sounds like he's gone a bit funny in the head?

I had to google those drugs that he was talking about. IIRC, one of the major side-effects is increased paranoia.

His paranoia isn't completely unfounded. I've lost count of the number of people that I've known that have been beaten by the police while in questioning. San Pedro has a particularly bad record of people dying while in custody. Note: "fell and fainted" in that article is likely code for "got the crap beat out of him by police."

Also, if he's on the Prime Minister's bad side, it wouldn't surprise me terribly if either police or thugs were sent to deal with him. Poisoning his dogs is a bit of a stretch though. Sounds more like an angry neighbor.

That said, I doubt any of that would happen to McAfee. He's too white American and too high profile for the normal shenanigans that they pull on people too poor to afford a lawyer.

Bath salts are what the guy in Florida who ate the other guy's face off and ignored a gunshot was on.

The part of the Wired article that I didn't get is why would the author say he witnessed a box of 9mm Luger ammo on the table. Luger doesn't make ammo (that I'm aware of), but 9mm Luger is the most common type of 9mm (9mm x 19mm) although it goes by other names, including just 9mm. If somebody owns a standard 9mm (one of the most common calibers in the world), chances are the ammo is going to say 9mm Luger, 9mm Parabellum, or just 9mm stamped on the rim.

They're also extremely common here in Belize, especially for unlicensed handguns. The fact that McAfee had one means absolutely nothing unless they can link it to the crime. (And before you think ballistics testing, they'd have to send it off to Miami to get that done)

Fascinating blog.

Can't say I can argue with any of his claims or his understanding of Belizean culture. Not sure why he hasn't pursued any of the many seemingly better options, especially if he's innocent.

You'd figure being a techie he'd know better.

I think I’d be hiding in a cave with no electricity, but then again I don’t think I’m nuts, yet.


http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/12/john_mcafee_arrest_guatemala_iphone.php

Yeah, it wasn't him, it was one of the reporters that is following him around from Vice. Still a very questionable decision. They picked him up for entering the country illegally. He'll likely be released soon (and possibly deported.)

Geotagging a photo always struck me as a bad idea. I didn't hear about the mortar attack in the first link of this thread, so I have my doubts it happened. However, that thread has some information on the concerns about geotagging. There has also been a lot of worries about mortar attacks on CONEXs due to geotagging.

Well, it depends on the context. I think it's a great idea -- I would have loved to have geotagging available for my vacation photos when I was travelling in Costa Rica, India, Hong Kong, and England. Would I post photos publicly with GPS co-ordinates attached? Not while on the road, but once it's historical information, absolutely. Would I be geotagging photos if I were on active service in the military? Hell, no.

The real problem isn't the geotagging, itself -- it's that it's largely happening (at least on phones) with the photographer unaware.

Of course, in this case, the real problem is that you have someone fleeing authorities, supposedly trying to maintain secrecy, inviting along reporters, and blogging about it at the same time. If your life is really on the line, as he claims, it seems a bit... careless. But then, it all seems to be a game, to him.