约翰·麦卡菲1945—2021

生平

约翰·麦卡菲是第一个商业化杀毒软件麦卡菲的开发者，经营多年后卖给英特尔并冠上其品牌名称。在其投资遭受2007年的全球金融危机前，最顶峰时他的财产价值多过1亿美元。

离开麦卡菲公司后，他创立了Tribal Voice（制作PowWow聊天软件）、QuorumEx和Future Tense Central等公司，并曾在Everykey、MGT Capital Investments、Luxcore等公司担任领导职务。其个人和商业取向包括智能手机应用、加密货币、瑜伽和天然抗细菌药。曾在伯利兹居住多年，但经过和伯利兹及危地马拉政府当局的纠纷后，他在2013年回到美国俄勒冈州波特兰。

2020年10月6日，约翰·麦卡菲因逃税罪名在西班牙巴塞罗那入境时被捕。2021年6月23日，西班牙法院裁定将麦卡菲引渡回美国受审，在裁定后的数小时，他被发现上吊死在狱中，享寿75岁。

纪录片

2022年Netflix推出纪录片《杀毒软件之父麦卡菲：心魔、逃亡与疯狂人生》，片中融合深入内情的原始影片，以及与在逃科技先驱约翰·麦克菲的访谈，揭露他在亡命天涯那几年不为人知的经历。

John David McAfee (, MAK-ə-fee; 18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British and American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time U.S. presidential candidate who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States in 2016 and in 2020. In 1987, he wrote the first commercial anti-virus software, founding McAfee Associates to sell his creation. He resigned in 1994 and sold his remaining stake in the company. McAfee became the company's most vocal critic in later years, urging consumers to uninstall the company's anti-virus software, which he characterized as bloatware. He disavowed the company's continued use of his name in branding, a practice that has persisted in spite of a short-lived corporate rebrand attempt under Intel ownership.

McAfee's fortunes plummeted in the 2008 financial crisis. After leaving McAfee Associates, he founded the companies Tribal Voice (makers of the PowWow chat program), QuorumEx, and Future Tense Central, among others, and was involved in leadership positions in the companies Everykey, MGT Capital Investments, and Luxcore, among others. His personal and business interests included smartphone apps, cryptocurrency, yoga, light-sport aircraft and recreational drug use. He resided for multiple years in Belize but returned to the United States in 2013 while wanted in Belize for questioning on suspicion of murder.

McAfee was a vocal advocate for privacy and personal freedom, central to his libertarian campaigns in 2016 and 2020. He opposed government surveillance and supported cryptocurrency as a way to reduce state control over financial systems. He framed his legal issues, including tax evasion charges, as resistance to unjust government overreach.

In October 2020, McAfee was arrested in Spain over U.S. tax evasion charges. U.S. federal prosecutors brought criminal and civil charges alleging that McAfee had failed to file income taxes over a four-year period. On 23 June 2021, he was found dead due to an apparent suicide by hanging in his prison cell near Barcelona shortly after the Spanish National Court authorized his extradition to the U.S. His death generated speculation and theories about the possibility that he was murdered. McAfee's wife, Janice McAfee, said she did not believe McAfee died by suicide.

Documentary films

Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee

Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee