John McAfee Denies He Gave Away His Location
Man-on-the-run says he manipulated metadata in a photo file, but gives strange reasons for doing so
Security industry luminary and man-on-the-run John McAfee has said he did not reveal his location by failing to delete metadata from a photo that gave coordinates for where the shot was taken.
A photo taken with an iPhone 4S, which subsequently appeared in consumer title Vice, contained EXIF data that gave away latitude and longitude coordinates. It appeared to show he was in Guatemala, a good deal south of its border with Belize, where police have been trying to track him down.
McAfee messes with Vice?
But McAfee, who is wanted for questioning over the murder of neighbour and fellow US expatriate Gregory Faull, said he purposefully changed the coordinates on the image file, but failed to give clear reasons as to why.
McAfee is already in disguise, having died his hair black, although given the number of pictures now online showing his current appearance, it is likely he would be identified if spotted.
“I, for my own safety, manipulated the xif (sic) data on the image taken from my cellphone, and created a fake emrgency (sic) so that the urgency of movement led, as I knew it would, to the hasty posting on their website,” McAfee wrote on his personal blog.
“I felt that our tenuous situation demanded action, and that was the action that I chose.
“I do not believe that Vice will remain with me further.”
Vice has promised it will be delivering a feature on its travels with McAfee soon, as the publication’s editor-in-chief has spent a number of days with him.
Reports earlier this week suggested McAfee had been arrested. He subsequently claimed his double had in fact been apprehended, but he had left Belize.
He said he was going to return to Belize once he had found a safe haven for his partner, Sam, whom he believes is in danger.
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