Bruce Fancher (also known as Timberwolf) (born April 13, 1971) is a former

computer hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bug (computing), bugs or exp ...

and member of the

Legion of Doom The Legion of Doom is a group of supervillains who originated in '' Challenge of the Superfriends'', an animated series from Hanna-Barbera based on DC Comics' Justice League. The Legion of Doom has since been incorporated into the main DC Univers ...

hacker group. He co-founded MindVox in 1991 with Patrick K. Kroupa.

Early years

Bruce Fancher grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He is the son of Ed Fancher, who founded ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' with Dan Wolf and

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

, in 1955. Fancher attended YIPL/TAP meetings that were taking place on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

. Fancher's peers included several hackers and phone phreaks of the day. The hacker publication ''

Phrack ''Phrack'' is an e-zine written by and for Hacker (computer security), hackers, first published November 17, 1985. It had a wide circulation which included both hackers and computer security professionals. Originally covering subjects related to ...

'' is filled with out-of-character rants at Fancher's work. 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,
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 William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

's ''

Agrippa Agrippa may refer to: People Antiquity * Agrippa (mythology), semi-mythological king of Alba Longa * Agrippa (astronomer), Greek astronomer from the late 1st century * Agrippa the Skeptic, Skeptic philosopher at the end of the 1st century * Ag ...

'', which had been leaked to the world from MindVox. The opening verses include a letter dated 1985, from the

SysOp A sysop (, an abbreviation of system operator) is an administrator of a multi-user computer system, such as a bulletin board system (BBS) or an online service virtual community.Jansen, E. & James, V. (2002). NetLingo: the Internet dictionary. Ne ...

(System Operator) of a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

Bulletin Board System A bulletin board system (BBS), also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running list of BBS software, software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user perfor ...

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 Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...

. 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 Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "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. 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. 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, 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.

Media

Books

Rudy Rucker Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (; born March 22, 1946) is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known f ...

& R. U. Sirius, (1992) User's Guide to the New Edge () *

Bruce Sterling Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre. Sterling's first ...

, (1993) The Hacker Crackdown : Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier () * J C Herz, (1995) Surfing on the Internet () *

St. Jude Jude the Apostle (Ancient Greek: Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου translit. Ioúdas Iakóbou Syriac/Aramaic: ܝܗܘܕܐ translit. Yahwada) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Tha ...

(

Jude Milhon Judith Milhon (March 12, 1939 – July 19, 2003), best known by her pseudonym St. Jude, was a self-taught programmer, civil rights advocate, writer, editor, advocate for women in computing, hacker and author in the San Francisco Bay Area. Milho ...

), (1995) The Real Cyberpunk Fakebook () * Charles Platt, (1997) Anarchy Online () * Melanie McGrath, (1998) Hard, Soft & Wet () *

Stacy Horn Stacy Horn (born June 3, 1956 in Norfolk, Virginia) 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. She re ...

, (2002) Waiting for My Cats to Die : A Memoir ()

Magazines & Newspapers

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

, William Flanagan (1992)
The Playground Bullies Have Learned to Type
*

Mondo 2000 ''Mondo 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 ''W ...

, Andrew Hawkins (1992)
There's A Party in my Mind... MindVox!
*

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

(1993), CyberHero *

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, Frank Bajak (1993)
Wiring the Planet: MindVox!
*

Wired Magazine ''Wired'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. It is published in both print and Online magazine, online editions by Condé Nast. The magazine has been in public ...

, Charles Platt (November 1993)
MindVox: Urban Attitude Online
*

Sassy Magazine ''Sassy'' magazine was a general interest teen magazine aimed at young women. Now defunct, it covered a wide variety of topics, and was intended as a feminist counterpoint to '' Seventeen'' and '' YM'' magazines. ''Sassy'' existed between 1988 ...

, Margie Ingall (1993)
Hi Girlz, See You in Cyberspace!
*

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

, Jeff Goodell (1994)
Boot Up and See Me Sometime
*

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

, Amy Cortese (1995)
Warding Off the Cyberspace Invaders
*

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

, Therese Poletti (1995)
Hollywood gets into Cyberspace
*

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

, Steve G. Steinberg (1997)
Ex-Hacker Ready for Next Step
*

, Adam L. Penenberg (1997)
Hacking the Corporate Ladder
* Point of View (POV), Tim Barkow (1998)

* ''

'', John Schwartz (2001)
New Economy: Even in Downturn, Sex Still Sells

Film

Jason Scott Sadofsky Jason Scott Sadofsky (born September 13, 1970) is an American archivist, historian of technology, filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex an ...

(2005
BBS: The Documentary

Television

CNN
(1997)

Music

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...

(1993) Cyberpunk, EMI

References

External links

Phantom Access

MindVox

Personal Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fancher, Bruce MindVox Legion of Doom (hacker group) 1971 births Living people People from New York City Hackers