I don’t think anybody expected John McAfee to be launching a new Internet company less than a year from when he was blogging while on the run from authorities in Belize after his neighbor was found dead. There for a while, it seemed like a legitimate question as to whether he would even make it to the United States.
But he’s been back for quite a while, living in Portland, playing the piano, hanging out with dogs, and making hilarious YouTube videos.
He has just announced the launch of a new company called Future Tense. While the fact that he’s launching a new company at all may come as a surprise, the type of company is less shocking. It involves a secure Internet.
McAfee, is of course known as the founder of the hugely successful McAfee antivirus software. He hasn’t been associated with it since the mid-nineties, but it does continue to be his biggest claim to fame.
McAfee spoke with San Jose Mercury News. Here’s what he had to say about Future Tense in that interview:
“My new technology is going to provide a new type of Internet, a decentralized, floating and moving Internet that is impossible to hack, impossible to penetrate and vastly superior in terms of its facility and neutrality. It solves all of our security concerns.”
Bold words from a bold man.
Here’s a little bit more from McAfee from NBC Bay Area:
He says it’s a place where you can exchange information that cannot be accessed by the NSA or anyone else.
…
“Um, I can tell you that I think the first local network is a solution to our problems of privacy and hackability that’s completely in flux,” McAfee said.
On his blog, McAfee posted some pictures from the C2SV conference, where he announced the launch of Future Tense and its product D-Central:
Woz looks intrigued.
D-Central is described as a hardware product that will cost less than a hundred bucks, and is capable of communicating with smartphones, tablets and other devices to create a series of decentralized networks, which are “practically impossible” to hack.
McAfee reportedly told his audience, “There will be no way (for the government) to tell who you are or where you are.”
There is a site at FutureTenseCentral.com where you can enter your email address to be notified when updates are available.
The site says, “In a time where information, privacy and freedom are at risk, a new technology is arising – D-Central. The countdown begins.”
There are a reported seven people working at Future Tense, with one of them in jail and described as a very famous hacker (via NBC interview).
Meanwhile, in Belize, McAfee is still wanted for questioning in connection with the death of his neighbor. He’s reportedly still considered a “person of interest”. Either way, things appear to be going pretty well for him since this:
If McAfee’s D-Central is banned in the U.S., he says he’ll sell it in other countries.
@C2SV @C2SVTech @Dan_Holden thank you for inviting me to a vibrant & refreshing event. Until next time my friends #FUTURETENSE #DCENTRAL
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) September 29, 2013
Images: John McAfee’s Blog