There aren’t many things that bring Google and Microsoft to the same page but a proposal recently moved by the hotel industry has done just that. In case you’re unaware the hotel industry is pushing FCC to allow it to block guests from using personal Wi-Fi hotspots. Both Google and Microsoft are opposing this proposal alongside the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, a lobbying group of U.S. carriers.
If the proposal does go through and FCC rules in favor of the hotel industry then it would be able to block guests from using personal Wi-Fi hotspots on their properties in the country. It was moved by Marriott International and American Hospitality & Lodging Association asking that hotel operators be allowed to manage their networks even if it causes interference to a wireless device a guest uses on the operator’s property.
The argument put forward by the industry is that they need to be able to do this in order to provide a “secure and reliable Wi-Fi service” to guests on the premises. Marriott has already been investigated in March last year for blocking guests from using personal Wi-Fi hotspots established through their smartphones, though the complaint was settled for quite a bit of money, Marriott stuck to the argument that it hadn’t broken the law and had actually protected guests from “rogue wireless hotspots.”
On the other hand the CTIA says that people have “equal rights to use unlicensed spectrum,” meaning that no one entity can intentionally stop people from using unlicensed spectrum. It also means that the hotel industry shouldn’t charge guests for internet access individually for every single device, particularly in this day and age, when most of us have at least a couple of Wi-Fi enabled devices on us when traveling.
The FCC is yet to rule on this matter.