Terry Zink has a good post on the Ritz case

From Terry Zink's anti-spam blog: Maybe the North Dakota judge should watch more South Park...

In a nutshell, Terry comments on the judge's ruling that David Ritz was guilty, in part, because he used tools the average user wouldn't have known about; as if expertise in a subject was criminal all by itself.

Terry compares the case to an episode of South Park which is a parody of the TV series 24, but in which the kids perform their investigation with the tools already in everybody's hands.

The point being that maybe David knows what the whois database is, or how to do a zone transfer, while the average end-user (or North Dakota judge) has no clue, but the fact remains that these tools are in every internet user's hands and their use for what they were intended is not a criminal act.

And while I'm on the subject, I'd like to remind my readers that David's defense fund still does not have the money required to defend against the oncoming criminal case, let alone to appeal this inane decision.

Please take a minute and donate to David's defense fund, either at this web page or by sending a check directly to his lawyers at:

David Ritz
c/o Debra S. Koenig
Godfrey and Kahn, S.C.
780 N Water Street
Milwaukee WI 53202