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