MindVox
MindVox was an early Internet service provider in New York City. The service was referred to as "the Hells Angels of Cyberspace".
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | Social network service |
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Founded | December 1991 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Bruce Fancher Patrick K. Kroupa |
| Industry | Internet |
| Profit | N/A |
| URL | www |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | December 1991 |
| Current status | Invitation Only (relaunch) |
The service was founded in 1991 by Bruce Fancher (Dead Lord) and Patrick Kroupa (Lord Digital), two former members of the Legion of Doom hacker group. It was initially launched in March 1992 as an invite-only offering, and eventually made generally available to the public in November that same year.
MindVox was the second Internet Service Provider in New York City, and the first test message posted to Usenet via the service was created by the infamous hacker Phiber Optik, in 1992, while waiting for a Manhattan grand jury indictment for hacking activities. At this time, customers of the only other service provider had already posted nearly 6,000 messages.
MindVox’s domain phantom.com was registered on 14 February 1992.