] Even as much of the Internet has come to resemble a
] pleasant, well-policed suburb, a little-known
] neighborhood known as Internet Relay Chat remains the
] Wild West. While copyright holders and law enforcement
] agencies take aim at their adversaries on Web sites and
] peer-to-peer file-sharing networks like Napster, I.R.C.
] remains the place where people with something to hide go
] to do business.

The NYT on IRC.

My first use of the Internet was IRC and news groups. The first command I typed in a unix shell was "irc".

NYT - The Internet's Wilder Side - IRC