The Marriott hotel chain is seeking to block personal Wi-Fi and mobile hotspots on its premises, asking the FCC to allow it control of any networks it does not want accessed.
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According to Boing Boing's excellent report, the justification--and to be clear, other hotel chains are backing Marriott's attempts--is that they're seeking to maintain consumer safety, protect children, and limit interference. The company submitted a petition to the FCC demanding the right to govern the internet spectrum on its grounds.
Were it to succeed, any hotel or convention center that charges for (usually not very fast) Wi-Fi could block out any other signals. Paying for a mobile hotspot data plan and you're away on a trip? Marriott and other locations would be allowed to prevent your paid connection entirely, limiting you to only its network.
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Fortunately, some big name players have stepped forward with resistance to the petition, including Google, Microsoft, and cell industry trade group CTIA. Anyone can submit a response to the petition here, and those companies have done so. Boing Boing explains that the petition is also rife with technical inaccuracies, including an attempt to equate its request to regulation of Wi-Fi networks on college and university campuses. Schools may protect and limit their own networks, but that says nothing about them preventing access to other networks--Brown University was compelled to submit a response to the petition explaining what Marriott had gotten wrong. It also references patently incorrect statements about 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz interference in an attempt to make its case.
On a larger scale, the entire request is seeking rights that nobody possesses--internet access can and should not be policed or limited by any one private body. Marriott, in fact, has been fined $600,000 by the FCC in the past for blocking guest Wi-Fi. Nobody is supposed to own unlicensed bands, and nothing in Marriott's claims have been supported by past decisions or FCC rulings. The petition does not seem likely to pass for myriad reasons, but Marriott does have Cisco's support and that of other hotel chains. Head over to Boing Boing's article for more details and examples on this case.
