John McAfee, the outlaw antivirus pioneer arrested by police in Guatemala City on December 5 and wanted separately by authorities in Belize for questioning in the murder of a man described as McAfee’s neighbor, is terminating his relationship with VICE Magazine, according to a post published on his blog Tueday under the name “Harold M.” a self-described “close friend” of McAfee.
The post articulates a theory that an image posted earlier by VICE magazine reporters while filming a documentary on McAfee, which contained metadata that revealed their’s and McAfee’s locations, was done so on purpose. As “Harold M.” writes:
Due to information just received, It is no longer clear to Mr. McAfee that the “accidental” release of his co-ordinates due to Vice Magazine’s editorial department’s failure to remove location data from their now notorious photo, was indeed an accident. This incident led directly to Mr. McAfee’s arrest. The reason, possibly, was that Vice wanted exclusive access to Mr. McAfee’s arrest, which they in fact obtained and broadcast. This, and subsequent developments, including a breach of verbal contract, has led Mr. McAfee to terminate all contact with Vice.
VICE Magazine itself preceded the post on the McAfee with one of its own on Monday explaining that its documentary crew has “just returned home to debrief and deliver said footage,” and that it would make clear what happened from its reporters’ perspective soon. As the post credited to “VICE staff” reads:
Despite many media outlets’ obvious glee in damning us immediately, VICE has decided to wait and talk to the people on our team who were on the ground and who can therefore tell us what actually went down in an attempt to refrain from propagating the same rumors, myths, and madness that this story has consisted of from the start.
In tangentially related news, McAfee reportedly sold the rights to a movie or TV production of his life to a Canadian TV company on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
