Bruce Fancher
Encyclopedia
Bruce Fancher (b. April 13, 1971) is a computer hacker
, a former member of the legendary Legion of Doom
hacker group. He co-founded MindVox
in 1991 with Patrick K. Kroupa
.
Bruce Fancher grew up in New York City
. He is the son of Ed Fancher, who founded the Village Voice with Dan Wolf and Norman Mailer
, in 1955.
Much like Patrick Kroupa and many compatriots from the Legion of Doom
, Bruce Fancher was part of the first generation to grow up with access to home computers and the networks that pre-dated the wide-scale adaptation of what became known as the internet.
Unlike most others, Fancher seems to have met most of the people who played major roles in his formative years, in person, at the YIPL/TAP
meetings that were taking place on the Lower East Side
of New York City
. Fancher's peers included several hackers and phone phreaks of the day.
The hacker publication Phrack
is filled with out-of-character rants at the games Fancher was playing. All of this culminated right around the time MindVox was first launched, with Phrack's first (and only) humor issue (Phrack #36) Phrack Magazine, also called "Diet Phrack", which was filled with LOD members stepping out from behind their usual handles and acting more like what the world had grown to expect from their rival gang, MOD (Masters of Deception).
Among other articles, such as Chris Goggans
' "jive" version of the Book of MOD that set off the Great Hacker War
, Phrack 36 included the first and last, official publication of an article co-written by Fancher and Kroupa, called "Elite Access" , which was a cynical and funny expose of the "elite" and private hacker underground of the day. The article was apparently worked on and edited during a 5 year period, and there are at least 3 different versions of it that still remain online , including a much earlier, hardcore technical revision which has most of the commands to control phone company computers, deleted out of it.
Fancher and Kroupa's games with the "elite" made it into Kroupa's "Agr1ppa", a surreal parody of William Gibson
's Agrippa
, which had been leaked to the world from MindVox. The opening verses include a letter dated 1985, from the SysOp
(System Operator) of a pirate Bulletin Board System
which had apparently thrown both Fancher and Kroupa off the system, for uploading cracked software, which they then infected with a virus .
.
and Wired, who were apparently unable to arrive at a consensus, with the Times listing the sale of MindVox's client-base and the closing of the system, in 1996, while Wired was still covering an apparently open and at least partially operational MindVox circa 1997, more than one year after the Times listed MindVox as being closed .
Whatever the past and future of MindVox holds, by the late 90's Fancher seems to have gone through a series of start-ups where he was one of the initial founders, saw the company through the first few years, and promptly cashed out. The best-known of these appears to be DuoCash, a micropayments company made infamous through a series of photographs posted on MindVox , taken from the DuoCash office building, located across the street from where the World Trade Center had stood a few days before.
As of 2005, Bruce Fancher is the vice president of Technology
at Lagardere Active, North America
.
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
, a former member of the legendary Legion of Doom
Legion of Doom (hacking)
The Legion of Doom was a hacker group active from the 1980s to the late 1990s and early 2000. Their name appears to be a reference to the antagonists of Challenge of the Superfriends...
hacker group. He co-founded MindVox
MindVox
MindVox was a famed early Internet Service Provider in New York City. A controversial sometime media darling — the service was referred to as "the Hells Angels of Cyberspace" — it was founded in 1991 by Bruce Fancher and Patrick Kroupa , two former members of the legendary Legion of Doom hacker...
in 1991 with Patrick K. Kroupa
Patrick K. Kroupa
Patrick Karel Kroupa is an American writer, hacker and activist. Kroupa was a member of the legendary Legion of Doom hacker group and co-founded MindVox in 1991, with Bruce Fancher...
.
Early years
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He is the son of Ed Fancher, who founded the Village Voice with Dan Wolf and Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
, in 1955.
Much like Patrick Kroupa and many compatriots from the Legion of Doom
Legion of Doom (hacking)
The Legion of Doom was a hacker group active from the 1980s to the late 1990s and early 2000. Their name appears to be a reference to the antagonists of Challenge of the Superfriends...
, Bruce Fancher was part of the first generation to grow up with access to home computers and the networks that pre-dated the wide-scale adaptation of what became known as the internet.
Unlike most others, Fancher seems to have met most of the people who played major roles in his formative years, in person, at the YIPL/TAP
Youth International Party
The Youth International Party, whose members were commonly called Yippies, was a radically youth-oriented and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the 1960s. It was founded on Dec. 31, 1967...
meetings that were taking place on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Fancher's peers included several hackers and phone phreaks of the day.
The hacker publication Phrack
Phrack
Phrack is an ezine written by and for hackers first published November 17, 1985. Described by Fyodor as "the best, and by far the longest running hacker zine," the magazine is open for contributions by anyone who desires to publish remarkable works or express original ideas on the topics of interest...
is filled with out-of-character rants at the games Fancher was playing. All of this culminated right around the time MindVox was first launched, with Phrack's first (and only) humor issue (Phrack #36) Phrack Magazine, also called "Diet Phrack", which was filled with LOD members stepping out from behind their usual handles and acting more like what the world had grown to expect from their rival gang, MOD (Masters of Deception).
Among other articles, such as Chris Goggans
Erik Bloodaxe (hacker)
Chris Goggans, who used the name Erik Bloodaxe in honor of the Viking king Eric I of Norway, is a founding member of the Legion of Doom group, and a former editor of Phrack Magazine...
' "jive" version of the Book of MOD that set off the Great Hacker War
Great Hacker War
The Great Hacker War was a purported 1990–1991 conflict between the Masters of Deception and an unsanctioned splinter faction of the older guard hacker group Legion of Doom , and some smaller subsidiary groups...
, Phrack 36 included the first and last, official publication of an article co-written by Fancher and Kroupa, called "Elite Access" , which was a cynical and funny expose of the "elite" and private hacker underground of the day. The article was apparently worked on and edited during a 5 year period, and there are at least 3 different versions of it that still remain online , including a much earlier, hardcore technical revision which has most of the commands to control phone company computers, deleted out of it.
Fancher and Kroupa's games with the "elite" made it into Kroupa's "Agr1ppa", a surreal parody of William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
's Agrippa
Agrippa (disambiguation)
-Classical era:*Agrippa , a semi-mythological king of Alba Longa*Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, a Roman consul in 503 BC*Various members of the Roman gentes Furia and Menenia...
, which had been leaked to the world from MindVox. The opening verses include a letter dated 1985, from the SysOp
SysOp
A sysop is an administrator of a multi-user computer system, such as a bulletin board system or an online service virtual community. It may also be used to refer to administrators of other Internet-based network services....
(System Operator) of a pirate Bulletin Board System
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
which had apparently thrown both Fancher and Kroupa off the system, for uploading cracked software, which they then infected with a virus .
Lunatics running the asylum
Neither Kroupa nor Fancher ever discussed the excess that was taking place behind the scenes until nearly a decade after the fact, but it was not a well kept secret. Although MindVox quickly became notorious for the escapades of its hard-partying clientele, there is little or no evidence that Fancher was involved personally in the wild lifestyles of its members. However, he was at least indirectly affected, in that by 1995 Kroupa's drug use was fast becoming legendary and his ability to function on a daily basis was diminishing. While the media's fascination with MindVox never ended, the development and growth of the system had slowed down and Phantom Access Technologies was taking on consulting positions to help other companies create their own online presence , and Fancher gained growing acclaim as a software architect and member of the dot.com technocracyTechnocracy (bureaucratic)
Technocracy is a form of government where technical experts are in control of decision making in their respective fields. Economists, engineers, scientists, health professionals, and those who have knowledge, expertise or skills would compose the governing body...
.
21st Century
While the last days of MindVox are more the stuff of mythology than recorded fact, and there are perpetual signs of MindVox coming back to life and opening again , , it appears likely that MindVox either went dark, or shut off public access, at some time in late 1997. The two main publications which covered the shutting of the gates, were The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and Wired, who were apparently unable to arrive at a consensus, with the Times listing the sale of MindVox's client-base and the closing of the system, in 1996, while Wired was still covering an apparently open and at least partially operational MindVox circa 1997, more than one year after the Times listed MindVox as being closed .
Whatever the past and future of MindVox holds, by the late 90's Fancher seems to have gone through a series of start-ups where he was one of the initial founders, saw the company through the first few years, and promptly cashed out. The best-known of these appears to be DuoCash, a micropayments company made infamous through a series of photographs posted on MindVox , taken from the DuoCash office building, located across the street from where the World Trade Center had stood a few days before.
As of 2005, Bruce Fancher is the vice president of Technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
at Lagardere Active, North America
Lagardère
Lagardère may refer to:* Lagardère Group* Jean-Luc Lagardère* Arnaud Lagardère* Lagardère, a commune of the Gers département, in France...
.
Books
- Rudy RuckerRudy RuckerRudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and philosopher, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of...
& R. U. SiriusR. U. SiriusR. U. Sirius is an American writer, editor, talk show host, musician and cyberculture celebrity. He is best known as co-founder and original Editor-In-Chief of Mondo 2000 magazine from 1989–1993. Sirius was also chairman and candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election for The Revolution Party...
, (1992) User's Guide to the New Edge (ISBN 0-06-096928-8) - Bruce SterlingBruce SterlingMichael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
, (1993) The Hacker Crackdown : Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier (ISBN 0-553-56370-X) - J C Herz, (1995) Surfing on the Internet (ISBN 0-316-36009-0)
- St. JudeJude MilhonJude Milhon , in Anderson, Indiana, best known by her pseudonym St. Jude, was a hacker and author in the San Francisco Bay Area....
(Jude MilhonJude MilhonJude Milhon , in Anderson, Indiana, best known by her pseudonym St. Jude, was a hacker and author in the San Francisco Bay Area....
), (1995) The Real Cyberpunk Fakebook (ISBN 0-679-76230-2) - Charles PlattCharles Platt (science-fiction author)Charles Platt is an author, journalist and computer programmer. He relocated from England to the United States in 1970, is a naturalized U.S. citizen and has one daughter, Rose Fox...
, (1997) Anarchy Online (ISBN 0-06-100990-3) - Melanie McGrath, (1998) Hard, Soft & Wet (ISBN 0-00-654849-0)
- Stacy HornStacy HornStacy Horn is an American author, businesswoman and occasional journalist. She grew up on Long Island, New York and received a B.F.A. from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts...
, (2002) Waiting for My Cats to Die : A Memoir (ISBN 0-312-28744-5)
Magazines & Newspapers
- ForbesForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, William Flanagan (1992), The Playground Bullies Have Learned to Type - Mondo 2000Mondo 2000Mondo 2000 was a glossy cyberculture magazine published in California during the 1980s and 1990s. It covered cyberpunk topics such as virtual reality and smart drugs. It was a more anarchic and subversive prototype for the later-founded Wired magazine....
, Andrew Hawkins (1992), There's A Party in my Mind... MindVox! - The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
(1993), CyberHero - Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, Frank Bajak (1993), Wiring the Planet: MindVox! - Wired Magazine, Charles PlattCharles Platt (science-fiction author)Charles Platt is an author, journalist and computer programmer. He relocated from England to the United States in 1970, is a naturalized U.S. citizen and has one daughter, Rose Fox...
(November 1993), MindVox: Urban Attitude Online - Sassy MagazineSassy MagazineSassy magazine is a defunct teen magazine, aimed at teenage female fans of alternative and indie rock music. It was founded in March 1988 by an Australian feminist, Sandra Yates, CEO of Matilda Publications, who based it on the teen magazine Dolly, which is still in publication in...
, Margie Ingall (1993), Hi Girlz, See You in Cyberspace! - New York Magazine, Jeff Goodell (1994), Boot Up and See Me Sometime
- Business Week, Amy Cortese (1995), Warding Off the Cyberspace Invaders
- ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, Therese Poletti (1995), Hollywood gets into Cyberspace - Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Steve G. Steinberg (1997), Ex-Hacker Ready for Next Step - ForbesForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, Adam L. Penenberg (1997), Hacking the Corporate Ladder - Point of View (POV), Tim Barkow (1998), Turn On, Hack In, Cash Out
- New York Times, John Schwartz (2001), New Economy: Even in Downturn, Sex Still Sells
Film
- Jason Scott SadofskyJason Scott SadofskyJason Scott Sadofsky , more commonly known as Jason Scott, is an American archivist and historian of technology. He is the creator, owner and maintainer of textfiles.com, a web site which...
(2005) BBS: The Documentary. iMDB