Any time John McAfee, the controversial antivirus software pioneer, makes headlines, you know it's going to be for something pretty interesting. McAfee's latest news-making antics don't disappoint.
McAfee surprised audiences at Def Con 22 in Las Vegas on Friday, Aug. 8 when he took the stage at the annual hackers conference. The tech giant revealed his latest project, Brownlist, a website where people can air their grievances. The website allows users to submit a complaint, write how the problem can be fixed and then get others involved to "start a revolution." Brownlist's tagline is "It's payback time!"
"Instead of getting angry and shooting at somebody on the highway, or yelling at your wife, you can log onto the site," McAfee said in an interview with Business Insider before his Def Con keynote address.
If you can't live without your smartphone, McAfee thinks you should proceed with caution. He told the audience at Def Con that smartphones are spying on Americans, who don't read terms of service agreements.
"The most promising privacy thing is stupid phones," he said.
Although McAfee revolutionized antivirus technology with the software named after him, he has made headlines in recent years for his eccentric behavior. He fled Belize for Guatemala after his neighbor was found dead in 2012 and police named him a person of interest in the incident. McAfee later faked a heart attack so he could be deported to the U.S. His affinity for guns and host of bizarre statements have also helped to make him fodder for the media.
McAfee isn't the only tech genius to seem a bit off to us. Howard Hughes, who among other things, was famous for designing and building planes, became known for his reclusive nature and rumors swirled about what he did as he seemingly disappeared from public life. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg once said he would only eat meat he killed himself for a year in 2011 and posted a Facebook status that said he "just killed a pig and a goat," which disgusted some users. Tech billionaires such as Larry Ellison, Peter Thiel and Sergey Brin have invested big bucks into the seemingly far-fetched idea of human immortality. But then again, you have to be a little crazy to create such revolutionary technology as they did, right? That certainly seems to be the case.
