Marriot Back-Pedals On Wireless Blocking

gurps_npc writes "Marriot Hotels had been illegally blocking Wifi hotspots in Nashville. They thought they owned the airwaves inside their hotel and wanted to charge guests for using them. They claimed to be 'surprised' they were breaking the law. Other hotels have complained to the FCC, asking for permission to do it legally. The FCC had fined Marriot $600,000 for their actions, among other things. They have stopped their illegal blockage, in part because of public backlash and in part because the government told them they were criminals.

Comments

How could they?

[gstoddart]

They thought they owned the airwaves inside their hotel and wanted to charge guests for using them

How uneducated do you have to be on the topic to believe this? Me? I'm betting some corporate lawyer said they could probably get away with it.

If they sincerely believed they owned those airwaves and could do this, they utterly failed to ask anybody who knew anything about it. That level of ignorance is either epic, or willful.

I think this is more likely a case of them knowing damned well they weren't supposed to, hoping they'd get away with it, and now pretending like it was all an honest mistake. At some point, someone said "ummm, guys, we can't legally do that" and was told to STFU.

I'm glad this got smacked down. And I wonder if movie theaters and other venues won't get caught doing the same thing.

It's about time corporations got reminded they aren't the ones defining what's legal and what isn't.

Re:How could they?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oddly enough, there are laws that prohibit such clubs. They're called anti-prostitution clubs, and such locations are referred to as brothels.

Just like there are laws that prohibit actively jamming devices, which is what Marriott was doing. The only way to passively jam a wireless signal is to build a Faraday cage around the place, which is totally fucking stupid. Also questionably legal, since you'd be cutting off cell service and emergency response GPS locators, which would inevitably lead to lawsuits if someone slipped in the shower or some shit and couldn't call 911 from their cell phone.

Re:the 'costanza defense'

[Penguinisto]

Dunno if we "pray" to them - it's just that most folks are tech-ignorant and are preyed upon because of that. I noticed crap like TFA first-hand.

I was at a Marriott in ATL (okay, Alpharetta) in late 2013, discovered crap like this (yet they were more than happy to charge $14.99/day for access to their SSID), and promptly decided to change hotels after the 2nd day (I was too busy to swing it on day one). I spent the rest of the week (and my employer's money) elsewhere. I specifically mentioned the wifi shenanigans as a reason why I changed rooms (especially since the La Quinta down the street was far less expensive, the hotspot worked perfectly, and atop that, their wifi was free of charge.) Reimbursement was not a problem after I explained why, and the company I worked for at the time decided to take their future business elsewhere (as a tech company, network access ranks as pretty damned important...)

Vote with your dollars, and even if traveling on business, be damned certain that your employer is aware of why you're doing so, which translates into less money for the offenders. It won't be fast, it won't be easy, and inertia allows asshat corporations to continue their asshattery for awhile, but if the issue is important and broadcast widely enough, withholding patronage does indeed work.