Smart City Holdings, a Wi-Fi provider for convention centers across the country, just got slapped with a hefty $750,000 fine from the FCC. The issue at hand? Blocking personal Wi-Fi hotspots on convention premises.
To call convention center internet prices a ripoff is a bit of an understatement. Smart City Holdings charges around $80 per day for access to their networks. By blocking personal Wi-Fi hotspots, it forces attendees to pay into this exorbitant scheme. "All companies who seek to use technologies that block FCC-approved Wi-Fi connections are on notice that such practices are patently unlawful," FCC commissioner Travis LeBlanc said in a statement, firing a warning shot to other would-be blockers.
This is good news for road warriors.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @08:41AM
Freedom, man, I'm high on Freedom! This is the Land of the Free, and 200 MB free from NetZero isn't enough, and 500 MB free from FreedomPop isn't enough! No way I'm paying for Internet access!