| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Years active | late 1980s – early 1990s |
| Category | warez / cracking |
| Founder(s) | Line Noise |
| Affiliated Group(s) | Pirates With Attitude |
International Network of Crackers (INC) was one of the premier cracking/releasing warez groups for the IBM PC during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The formation of INC was the result of the merger of several cracking groups, including Union, based out of Texas, and the Miami Cracking Machine (MCM), based out of Florida. [1] The founder of MCM, who went under the pseudonym Line Noise, continued to manage INC until 1992. Following his departure from the group, Cool Hand and The Cracksmith took over.[2] There were a few years in which the group seemed dominant over the "warez" scene. It was not until internal conflicts and lack of interest by upper management entered the picture that things began to decline. When Cool Hand and The Cracksmith disappeared, the remaining members were unable to hold things together. [1]
The real identities of the key members have never been fully uncovered, but it has been reported that the founding members, Line Noise (Neil), The Cracksmith (Drew), and Cool Hand (Joe) have left the scene. [2] Releases from INC aggressively declined and people within the scene generally had felt that INC lost its edge.[1] During a one year period, they went from being the top gaming software release group to barely memorable. Some of the best games of the 80s and 90s were released by INC during a period of stiff competition with groups like FLT, THG, and Razor 1911. By early 1994, INC had completely disappeared from the warez scene. [1]
Among their biggest rivals and competitors during the group's existence were The Humble Guys. [1] During a period in which most groups were using any and all means possible (including credit card fraud, lies and anything else) to beat them, INC always maintained its moral high ground. The worst INC ever did was to "leak" a new game to The Humble Guys so they could steal the credit. While unknown to THG - the game was infected with a trojan that searched for a modem then dialed 9-1-1. Several of The Humble Guys members were visited by the police before they discovered they had been fooled. [1] [2]
. While Cool Hand did personally mention me in his interview that is linked on this page, this information on INC is the history of the end of INC. Dallas was a major player in the pirate scene and the description of INC here is that of the last years of the group before the internet killed the community. Cool Hand was my Co-SysOP that eventually took over INC and changed the scene into it's pay atmosphere. Prior to his rule, the majority of software was obtained through relationships with employee's of the game companies and the local computer stores. Timelord, Candyman, Cool Hand, Phantom, Cracksmith and many others were personal friends of mine and I hope one day that the history will be told in full. We may have released games but at the same time, we were a community. We had our own group of laws and morals that drove the group. Our members came from varied backgrounds, such as prison guards, med students, retail computer store employees, kids and more. We were a group of people that lived without race, age or any other social standing outside of your merits in the community. The information on Wiki about these groups is about the last days of the society and not the beginning or the middle where it was truly a great thing.