by Jason Snell
Does Marriott want to block your personal hotel Wi-Fi?
Glenn Fleishman, reporting for BoingBoing:
Marriott is fighting for its right to block personal or mobile Wi-Fi hotspots—and claims that it’s for our own good.
The hotel chain and some others have a petition before the FCC to amend or clarify the rules that cover interference for unlicensed spectrum bands. They hope to gain the right to use network-management tools to quash Wi-Fi networks on their premises that they don’t approve of. In its view, this is necessary to ensure customer security and to protect children.
Of course what hotel chains really want is to eliminate your choice and protect their expensive in-hotel Internet access by usurping a band of radio spectrum that’s intentionally been left for public use. It’s despicable, but unsurprising.
(Update: Marriott says this is all about stopping “rogue hotspots” in its meeting rooms, and not about customers.)