Marriott, who runs the Gaylord Hotel properties including the Opryland Hotel, has been fined $600,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for jamming personal wifi networks of convention attendees and guests.
The Associated Press reports that the FCC responded to a complaint made by someone staying at Opryland who was using a portable wifi hotspot. Hotels and convention centers often charge steep fees for wifi access and devices that can get a signal from cell phone towers are often circumvent those fees. The author of the complaint said that his portable device was jammed at another Gaylord property.
While agreeing to the fine, Marriott on Friday defended the practice of jamming guests' own Wi-Fi networks. The company said this wasn't aimed at charging guests extra for Internet access but about protecting its network. It said the hotel's actions were legal and encouraged the FCC to change its rules "to eliminate the ongoing confusion" and "to assess the merits of its underlying policy." "Marriott has a strong interest in ensuring that when our guests use our Wi-Fi service, they will be protected from rogue wireless hotspots that can cause degraded service, insidious cyber-attacks and identity theft," the company said in a statement, adding that hospitals and universities employee similar jamming practices.Marriott operates or franchise more than 4,000 hotels around the world. A spokesman for the company wouldn't say how many other hotels employ block personal Wi-Fi connections.
