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Dutch Hotels Must Register As ISPs
hankwang writes "The Dutch telecommunications authority OPTA has announced that Dutch hotels must register as internet providers (original version, in Dutch) because that is what they formally are, according to Dutch laws. It is well possible that once hotels are officially internet providers, they will also have to abide by the European regulations on data retention and make efforts to link email headers and other data traffic to individual hotel guests. Could this also happen in other European countries? This is probably not likely to lead to a more widespread adoption of free WiFi services in hotels."
I always thought these things were to ensure that companies get the same freedom (that is, they are restricted the same amount by government). If ISPs get lots of regulations, then it's only fair that hotels offering WiFi be burdened the same way. It's like when the school bully is only picking on some of the kids, and they argue that he should pick on everyone equally to be fairer.