John McAfee Touts New Internet Privacy Device
Antivirus pioneer John McAfee claims he is developing a new device called D-Central (or Decentral) that will allegedly block NSA surveillance.
The small device will sell for about $100 according to McAfee who discussed his new gadget at the C2SV Technology Conference + Music Festival in San Jose, Calif., this past weekend.
McAfee, the eccentric founder of McAfee AntiVirus Software, made headlines last year when he went on the run from authorities after his Belize neighbor was shot to death execution style. He was later taken into custody in Guatemala and deported back to the states. The software mogul now lives in Portland, Ore.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that the the antivirus pioneer told an audience at the conference that when using D-Central, which will have a range of about three city blocks, “There will be no way (for the government) to tell who you are or where you are,” and he will sell it overseas if it’s banned in the US. The prototype is supposed to be finished in six months, and the new tech gadget even has its own countdown clock at futuretensecentral.com.
McAfee is calling it D-Central “because by communicating with smartphones, tablets and other devices, it will create decentralized, floating, and moving local networks that can’t be penetrated by government spy agencies.”
McAfee claims he got the idea for the device before the Edward Snowden National Security Agency revelations, but the Snowden situation convinced him that the time was right to bring it to market.
Added McAfee: “D-Central doesn’t know who you are. Every few minutes, [the device] changes its identification. There is simply no way to tell who is doing what, when or where.. I believe that anyone will want one… anyone who’s concerned about privacy, anyone who’s concerned about security.”
According to PC World, “McAfee hasn’t released many technical details about the gadget, but from the sounds of it, D-Central will be a mashup between a personal mobile Wi-Fi hotspot like the MiFi and a Pirate Box… McAfee’s product wants to take the best aspects of both the hotspot and the Pirate Box to let you share files publicly and anonymously with users nearby, as well as chat privately with people you know.”
