FCC Fines Marriott For Disabling WiFi Hot Spots

The FCC said Friday that Marriott had admitted its employees improperly blocked mobile hot spots and has agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve an FCC investigation.    

According to the FCC, Marriott intentionally blocked WiFi networks of consumers in its conference facilities at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville in violation of the law.    

Marriott employees used a monitoring system to identify and prevent individuals from connecting to the 'net via their own WiFi nets, while charging consumers, businesses and exhibitors up to $1,000 per device to access Marriott's own WiFi network.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.