Microsoft, Google Join To Object Marriott's Wi-Fi Blocking

Microsoft Corporation and Google Inc have joined to object the petition filed by Hotel Marriott that asks the right to block personal Wi-Fi hotspots in premises of the hotel. Google and Microsoft objected that devices with capability to infer with radio signals are illegal.

According to a report, the FCC has received a petition from two major hotel groups - Marriott International and the American Hospitality & Lodging Association - asking for the permission to utilize equipment to manage their networks, even if this results in "in interference with or causes interference to" devices used by the guests.

The petition follows a settlement case for $600,000 in October, in which Marriott Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center was accused of having used a jammer to block Internet access.

The filing from Microsoft notes that by restricting customers from setting up their own connections, hotels with granted permission would be forcing their customers to use hotel Wi-Fi, hence making them pay extra.

The permission to block hotspot doesn't make sense because the customers have already made payments to their respective operators for Internet access.

In defense, hotel chains said it is only trying to protect its customers from disadvantages and risks of using insecure wireless hotspots. Those hotspots are more prone to insidious cyber-attacks and identity theft, Marriott claimed.