Slashdot Mirror
UTD Lifts Ban On WiFi Equipment
boredMDer writes "As seen in this /. story, the University of Texas in Dallas had issued a ban on students operating 2.4 GHz WiFi equipment. However, UTD has now lifted said ban, because of 'the discovery of an FCC ruling prohibiting such a move.'"
The FCC is the only body with the legal authority to regulate the spectrum. The vast majority of the comments in the original /. story agreed with this.
UTD didn't own the apartments in question, even if they did they aren't allowed to prohibit their tenants from establishing legal wireless links. FCC regs allow tenants the ability to place dishes as necessary, antennas as necessary (so long as they're legal), and amateur radio equipment as necessary. Landlords cannot interfere with the above legal placements. End of story.
I'm glad to see that UTD backed down. As much as I loathe the FCC for going after Howard Stern, and for making a huge issue out of Janet's n1ppl4g3, this is a major victory for the average joe.
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
Hey, it's just like the origional article where nobody can read.
This has zero to do with the integrity of security on the school network, because the issue was between the students personal APs competing with that of the school network. The peronal APs were NOT attached to the school network in any way, shape, or form, and were placed on privately paid for connections via SBC/Yahoo and Comcast.
If you would kindly read the article, you would realize that thinking that the idea of students placing what effectively would be a unsecured repeater of the school's wireless signal being the issue is somewhat silly, for two reasons.
1. That's a clear violation of the agreement between the student and the university concerning security and their unix id.
2. Why would students need to do so, since the network is fully (and only) wireless to begin with?