This information has been
published to answer a few basic questions regarding
The International Information Retrieval Guild.
The I.I.R.G. Yesterday.....
The I.I.R.G. is not a new organization
suddenly appearing on the scene. The I.I.R.G. was originally founded by
Mercenary in 1982.
In the following six years the group grew to prominence in the
Commodore 64
community and created numerous shareware utilities as well as text
files.
The I.I.R.G. in the 1990's.
In early March of 1990, for the first
time in over two years. The founding members of the IIRG reconvened and
discussed reactivating the Guild as a vocal organization.
(It must be noted that in earlier days the I.I.R.G. was an invitation only
organization)
The sudden shift in attitudes was due to
the negative publicity afforded hackers in the press and television. Mercenary
set about establishing a group of bulletin board systems and contacting former
members throughout the United States.
Another of the founding members, was
contacted and set about the original plans for publishing
PHANTASY. Phantasy
Was the I.I.R.G.'s voice to the world, a forum for discussing topics of
interest to the Computer Underground.
The I.I.R.G. was founded on the principal
of exploration and knowledge. The group as a whole does not advocate illegal
hacking activities. To us Hacking is an art form, a hobby that should be
encouraged and condoned. To us hacking is the creation of software or
hardware.
In 1993, the IIRG holds the solitary
honor of being the only hacker group to ever be asked
not to attend a Hacker Conference.
This is when flyers were distributed for PumpCon II
with the statement "Anyone interested in the computer underground except
IIRG members".
Once again our reputations had preceded us.

"IIRG members are nothing
but a bunch of drunken gun toting
rednecks"
Sledge Hammer -
1992
"Mercenary's nuts, and the rest
of them aren't quite right either"
Voltaire - 1993
"You son of a bitches, you drank
all the f*cking beer"
Panhead
- 1997
"We've never been known for our
social graces,
that's why we've endured over the years.
We run the group like a biker gang.
If you've never been part of that
environment,
you'll
never understand what it means to be IIRG.
Now get out of my way, I need
another
god damned beer."
Mercenary -
at the 1998 IIRG Picnic
Also in 1993, "Ionizer" an IIRG site sysop of
the "Ware House BBS", was jailed and
held on $500,000 bail. Ionizer still remains the only IIRG member to ever be
arrested.
His arrest was for a trumped up charge of having "anarchy" files on
his BBS.
Due to Ionizers previous history with the West Hartford
Police, he was forced to
plead guilty on explosives charges for having "bomb making materials in
his possession",
but the "anarchy" file charges were never pursued.
It must be noted for history that these "bomb making materials" were
actually magic
tricks (AKA - confetti launchers). Ionizer was a practicing magician and always
had
these devices on hand.
The IIRG in 2000....
The I.I.R.G. of today is a small core of
enthusiasts with a wide range of computer preferences and electronics
knowledge. The IIRG of today is busy experimenting with cutting edge projects
such as wireless networking, RF Interception, encryption, and robotics.
The IIRG in 2006....
Since the government has once again
decided to attack a small segment of society, we have
decided to once again start publishing
PHANTASY. I'd like
to point out that freedom of speech is one of our Constitutional rights, but it
seems that once again certain members of the political and
law-enforcement community have forgotten this. This country has strayed to far
from what our
fore-fathers envisioned for this country.
The IIRG in 2009....
The IIRG had disbanded in 2008.
But due to a former IIRG member trying to steal the IIRG acronym, myself and the
other surviving IIRG founder have decided to reactivate the group.
Along with what other former member, site Sysops and European affiliates we
were able to contact, the family of IIRG sites have been reactivated.
As for the former member who is trying to usurp the IIRG acronym, it has come
to our attention that he is suffering from dementia brought on by a nervous
breakdown, and has lost most of his cognitive functions. He is disoriented in
time, thinking that these are the glory days of the 1980's hacking scene.
Along with another social deviant, they are attempting to create a hackerspace
and have promised a newsletter about the old-school hacking scene of the 1980's.
(Where his mind is stuck!)
We can only hope that this dementia is treatable and reversible. Unfortunately,
less than 10 percent of cases of dementia are due to causes that may presently
be reversed with treatment.
His mind may be lost for good!
"A modern day revolution in this
country will never be won by the gun alone, there is also
no way to win a revolution behind a keyboard. But combine the two and get the
American
public to turn off their televisions and you just might stand a fighting
chance."
- Mercenary - 1999
Sure we may have so called hard-lined
political beliefs but it's high time that the media was reminded that not all
Hackers are the so called Techno-Terrorists, Script Kiddies, or modern day Al
Capone's the mainstream media would like us to be.
I would also like to state that not all
Hacker Organizations are
corporate sell outs and that the so called "White Hat
Hacker" label is a bunch of bull-shit. You are either hackers or corporate
lackeys, make up your damn minds which side of the fence your going to get
behind and stay there.
No offense, but if it walks like a duck,
quacks like a duck, I think it's a f*cking duck
Mercenary/IIRG
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