John McAfee, the cybersecurity pioneer and cryptocurrency advocate, recently said tech giant Intel is now suing him.
The cause of the alleged lawsuit is due to his use of “GhostbyMcAfee” in regards to the Ghost coin he is promoting.
Litigation over name
Ghost is a proof-of-stake coin developed for blockchain transactions that are anonymous. The coin’s distributed exchange went live in late June.
It seems that Intel believes John McAfee is suggesting a link between his privacy company (the Ghost coin) and his former anti-virus company that he founded back in 1987. Intel bought McAfee’s anti-virus company in 2010.
As for the current situation, John McAfee said, “The buyers of my old company are too foolish to understand that whatever I create only helps their now pitiful product.”
Intel has sued me over the name "GhostbyMcAfee".
The buyers of my old company are too foolish to understand that whatever I create only helps their now pitiful product.
Anyway …
"GhostbyJohnMcAfee", while acceptable, seems clunky.
Any suggestions?
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) July 22, 2020
He did also state that he does have the right to his name but that he has to use his first and last name for product purposes.
As for his Ghost coin, it was recently announced that the cryptocurrency could now be used in over 60 vending machines in Hong Kong, including some vending machines in Hong Kong Disneyland.
The ongoing saga of John McAfee
One could definitely say that McAfee is living an interesting life. He is currently running for president of the United States, although he says he has zero chance of winning. His goal is to raise awareness of cryptocurrency as well as other liberty-themed issues.
He is also currently on the run from U.S. federal authorities due to not paying taxes for over the last eight years. He said the IRS had convened a grand jury to charge him, his wife, and four of his campaign workers. At that point, he said he planned to live at sea for two years.
McAfee also added at that time, “I am running my campaign in exile, on this boat, for the duration. I will not allow them to imprison me and shut my voice down.”
John McAfee once famously promised to eat his own reproductive organ if Bitcoin did not reach US$1 million [AUS$1.4 million] in price by the end of 2020. He backed off that prediction, as well as his pledge of eating his own manhood, last January.
When he announced his change of heart, he said, “A ruse to onboard new users. It worked. Bitcoin was first. It’s an ancient technology. All know it. Newer blockchains have privacy, smart contracts, distributed apps and more. Bitcoin is our future. Was the Model T the future of the automobile?”
Featured images courtesy of Gage Skidmore/Flickr