Eric W. Branch Assign 1 Argument EN1420

I recently read an article by Nancy Trejos in USA Today about an argument over whether or not access to the internet is considered community property. On October 3, 2014 Marriott International agreed to pay a fine of $600,000 as well as adhere to a three year Compliance Plan for illegally interfering and disabling Wi-Fi networks established by it’s customers. In addition to the fine and Compliance agreement, Marriott will also file progress reports to the FCC every three months. The investigation began after a March 2013 complaint from an individual attending a convention at the Marriott Opryland Hotel stating that the hotel was “jamming mobile hotspots so that you can’t use them in the convention space.” Marriott officials stated that they believed that having their employees block Wi-Fi signals and then charging customers to use the hotels plan at a cost of sometimes up to $1,000 was legal in their eyes. According to the official FCC news release this was in direct violation of Section 333 of the Federal Communications Act. Marriott argued that they did this in the best interest of their customers. A company statement from Marriott argued that “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. Like many other institutions and companies in a wide variety of industries, including hospitals and universities, the Gaylord Opryland protected it’s Wi-Fi network by using FCC authorized equipment provided by well known, reputable manufacturers.” FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis Leblanc countered in a statement “It is unacceptable for any hotel to intentionally disable personal hotspots while also charging consumers and small businesses high fee’s to use the hotel’s own Wi-Fi network. This practice puts consumers in the untenable position of either paying twice for the same service or forgoing internet access altogether.” I believe that from a legal stand point the FCC’s ruling was correct considering that the internet is “unowned, community property”. In Marriotts defense however their argument may have some merit but the law is the law and in the end the hotel chain admitted to wrong doing and accepted culpability.

References:
Nancy Trejos, USA TODAY
October 3, 2014