A North Dakota judge issued a ruling in Sierra Corporate Design v. Ritz that has some pretty stunning implications about the use of the "host -l" command when accessing DNS records. In the judgment (which was prepared by the plaintiff's counsel and sent to the judge), the use of the "host -l" command is tantamount to computer hijacking and hacking.

Riiight...next thing you know, they'll decide ping* is cracking too.

*Rattle, Aestetix, I know you guys said you can send "+++ATH0" to a modem in a ping and disconnect the person, but, really, who still uses dial-up?