Bruce Fancher (also known as Timberwolf) (born April 13, 1971) is a former computer hacker and member of the Legion of Doom hacker group. He co-founded MindVox in 1991 with Patrick K. Kroupa.
Early years
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.village voice > aboutus
Fancher attended 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.MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost
The hacker publication Phrack is filled with out-of-character rants at Fancher's work.:: Phrack Magazine :: :: Phrack Magazine :: :: Phrack Magazine :: Around the time MindVox was first launched, with Phrack's only humor issue (Phrack #36), also called "Diet Phrack". Phrack 36 included the first and last, official publication of an article co-written by Fancher and Patrick Kroupa, called "Elite Access",:: Phrack Magazine :: 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,Quot;Elite+Quot; Access A Tutorial By Lord Digital And Dead Lord Doom Of Legionsh Lords A 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 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.
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 attention 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 technocracy.MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost Hacking the corporate ladder - Forbes.com MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost
There are perpetual signs of MindVox coming back to life and opening again,MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost mindvox 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 Times 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.MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost 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.MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost
By the late 1990s, Fancher was involved in a series of start-ups where he founded and started companies and then sold after a few years. The best-known of these appears to be DuoCash,MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost a micropayments company made infamous through a series of photographs posted on MindVox,MindVox: Last Exit For The Lost taken from the DuoCash office building, located across the street from where the World Trade Center had stood a few days before.
Media
Books
Rudy Rucker & R. U. Sirius, (1992) User's Guide to the New Edge () Bruce Sterling, (1993) The Hacker Crackdown : Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier () J C Herz, (1995) Surfing on the Internet () St. Jude (Jude Milhon), (1995) The Real Cyberpunk Fakebook () Charles Platt, (1997) Anarchy Online () Melanie McGrath, (1998) Hard, Soft & Wet () Stacy Horn, (2002) Waiting for My Cats to Die : A Memoir ()
Magazines & Newspapers
Forbes, William Flanagan (1992), The Playground Bullies Have Learned to Type Mondo 2000, Andrew Hawkins (1992), The New Yorker (1993), CyberHero Associated Press, Frank Bajak (1993), Wiring the Planet: MindVox! Wired Magazine, Charles Platt (November 1993), MindVox: Urban Attitude Online Sassy Magazine, Margie Ingall (1993), Hi Girlz, See You in Cyberspace! New York Magazine, Jeff Goodell (1994), Business Week, Amy Cortese (1995), Warding Off the Cyberspace Invaders Reuters, Therese Poletti (1995), Hollywood gets into Cyberspace Los Angeles Times, Steve G. Steinberg (1997), Ex-Hacker Ready for Next Step Forbes, Adam L. Penenberg (1997), Hacking the Corporate Ladder Point of View (POV), Tim Barkow (1998), Turn On, Hack In, Cash Out The New York Times, John Schwartz (2001),
Film
Jason Scott Sadofsky (2005) BBS: The Documentary.
Television
CNN (1997). Panel Discussion on The Communications Decency Act (CDA)
Music
Billy Idol (1993) Cyberpunk, EMI
See also MindVox Patrick Kroupa Legion of Doom
References
External links Phantom Access MindVox Personal Home Page