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| 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) |
MindVox was an early Internet service provider in New York City. The service was referred to as "the Hells Angels of Cyberspace".[1]
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.[2] 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,[3] 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.[4] At this time, customers of the only other service provider had already posted nearly 6,000 messages.[5]
MindVox’s domain phantom.com was registered on 14 February 1992.