John McAfee Is Officially Running For President Of The United States

We, and probably you, suspected it would happen after yesterday's little publicity spat: John McAfee, one-time fugitive self-described "eccentric millionaire" and founder of McAfee software, has announced that he will, in fact, run for presidency of the United States. This follows a relatively brief statement that he was contemplating such a run, and was being pushed by unnamed advisors to get with it already.

McAfee announced the plan to run shortly after news of his contemplation went public. It seems the plan may have been to run all along, as there's already a campaign website live (though it is, admittedly, quite sparse at the moment). Are you thinking (read: desperately hoping) it's all a big troll? Think again. Paperwork has been filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The website doesn't go into any details about McAfee's plans, but Ars ended up getting in contact with Drew Thompson, who is said to be McAfee's campaign manager. According to Thompson, McAfee will be running for presidency as part of the "Cyber Party", which "in terms of ideology and aims, it is not really related to any existing party."

A short while later, McAfee spoke to the BBC, saying:

I live in a country that has passed so many laws, that, at an average reading speed, would take me 600 years to read, reading 24 hours a day. I am protected by a government that invades my privacy so that it can assure me that I am not the enemy it is protecting me from. I live in a country that is governed by people largely illiterate in cybersecurity – as proven by the multiple government computer hacks. Yet cyber-warfare is now the means of war. My government is dysfunctional. For the 300 million other Americans – you are in the same boat with me.

McAfee is expected to make an official statement on his run within the next hour.