NEW YORK (AP) —  Marriott International will pay a $600,000 fine for jamming conference attendees' own Wi-Fi networks at its Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, forcing them to pay hefty prices to use the hotel's own connection.

Frequent travelers often carry personal Wi-Fi hotspots — tiny devices that can connect to the Internet via cell phone towers. For $50 a month, they can connect to the Internet on the move, often avoiding hefty fees charged by hotels, airports and conference facilities. Some people upgrade their wireless data plans to make their smartphones into hotspots.

Last year, a conference attendee at the Opryland hotel in Nashville, Tennessee — which is managed by Marriott — found that the hotel was jamming devices in its ballrooms and complained to the Federal Communications Commission. In the complaint, the guest noted that the same thing happened previously at another Gaylord property. The block didn't affect Wi-Fi access in guest rooms.

While jamming personal Wi-Fi connections, Marriott was charging conference organizers and exhibitors between $250 and $1,000, per access point, to use the Gaylord's Wi-Fi connection. The FCC declined to release the initial guest complaint except if requested under the Freedom of Information Act, a process that can often take weeks.

Marriott agreed to the fine and has instructed its hotels not to use the jamming technology in the way it was used at Opryland, according to the FCC. But the company on Friday defended the blocking of guests' own Wi-Fi networks in the interest of network security. The company said it is legal to use FCC-approved technology to protect its Wi-Fi service against "rogue wireless hotspots that can cause degraded service, insidious cyber-attacks and identity theft," adding that hospitals and universities employee similar jamming practices.

At the four Gaylord hotels in the U.S., Marriott today monitors for hotspots causing interference but does not automatically block such connections, said Harvey Kellman, a lawyer for the hotel company. Only a handful of Marriott's 4,000 other hotels worldwide currently screen for hotspot interference.

Marriott said it encourages the FCC to change its rules "to eliminate the ongoing confusion" and "to assess the merits of its underlying policy."

The government said people who purchase cellular data plans should be able to use them without fear that their personal connection will be blocked.

"It is unacceptable for any hotel to intentionally disable personal hotspots while also charging consumers and small businesses high fees to use the hotel's own Wi-Fi network," Travis LeBlanc, chief of the FCC's enforcement bureau said in a statement. "This practice puts consumers in the untenable position of either paying twice for the same service or forgoing Internet access altogether."

__ http://news.yahoo.com/marriott-fined-600-000-jamming-175025789.html

-----------------------------------------------My Translation-----------------------------------------

因干扰客人的随身Wi-Fi，万豪国际酒店集团被罚60万美元

万豪国际酒店集团将支付60万美金的罚款，因为盖洛德欧皮兰德酒店及会议中心（酒店名）干扰客人们的随身Wi-Fi，迫使他们使用酒店提供的付费的无线网络。

大多数旅客经常会携带随身Wi-Fi热点——一种能通过连接手机信号而上网的简便设备。通过这种设备，旅行者们可以随时上网，一个月大约只需要支付50美元，可以避免使用酒店、机场、某些会议场所提供的付费上网服务。一些旅客甚至升级了手机的无线设置，使他们的智能机成为一个移动的Wi-Fi热点。

盖洛德欧皮兰德酒店及会议中心，位于田纳西州的那什维尔地区，是万豪国际酒店集团旗下的一家酒店。去年，来这家酒店参加会议的一名客人发现，该酒店的宴会厅中有让客人无法使用随身Wi-Fi的干扰设备，他随即向联邦通信委员会投诉。在投诉中，这名客人还提到，在该酒店的其他地方，先前也有同样的无法使用随身Wi-Fi 的情况。这种干扰信号不会影响客房里的无线信号。

通过干扰个人的Wi-Fi连接，按每个无线连接端口250美元到1000美元不等的价格，万豪国际酒店集团收取了会议主办方和参展商高额的Wi-Fi使用费。美国联邦通信委员会拒绝公布最初的客人投诉相关信息，除非根据《信息自由法》提出查阅申请，这个申请程序往往需要数周时间才能完成。

美国联邦通信委员会称，万豪国际酒店集团同意支付罚款，并且指示其旗下的酒店不再使用干扰Wi-Fi的设备，不要再像盖洛德欧皮兰德酒店及会议中心那样。但周五，该集团解释说，干扰客人的随身Wi-Fi是出于网络安全的考虑，称：为了保护酒店的无线网络不被偷用，不被恶意攻击，保护客人的身份信息不被泄露，酒店使用联邦通信委员会批准的屏蔽技术是合法的。也强调，医院和大学校园也同样采用了类似的干扰手段。

万豪国际酒店集团的律师Harvey Kellman称，在美国的4家盖洛德酒店中，现在使用的Wi-Fi热点管理器会对随身Wi-Fi有些干扰作用，但管理器不会自动限制随身Wi-Fi的连接。只有一小部分该集团旗下的4000多家连锁酒店现在屏蔽了对Wi-Fi热点干扰。

万豪国际称其赞成联邦通信委员会改变一些认证标准来清除长久以来的政策性的模糊标准和评估一些基本政策的优点。

政府称，购买蜂窝数据网的用户应能够随时使用Wi-Fi，而不用担心无线连接被限制。

联邦通讯委员会执行处处长，Travis LeBlanc在发言中说，任何一家酒店限制个人Wi-Fi热点，同时又向顾客和商人收取高额的酒店的网络服务费，这种行为是不合理的，而且，这种做法使消费者处于不利的地位，消费者要么需要为相同的网络服务付费两次，要么完全放弃上网。

-------------------------------------------My thoughts------------------------

Wi-Fi is attractive, and I really, really like to go to these places providing free Wi-Fi. The free Wi-Fi is an important consideration when we choose a restaurant, a hotel, a barbershop and so on so forth. Accordingly, most of the businessmen would offer the same service freely to satisfy consumers.   

The tiny devices are charming and convenient in this sentence that “Frequent travelers often carry personal Wi-Fi hotspots — tiny devices that can connect to the Internet via cell phone towers.” Actually, I prefer to use computer for surfing, and the device is available, I am willing to carry my heavy computer, not my cell-phone.

There was no wireless network in our campus except dormitories. Now, there is Wi-Fi in class, but meanwhile jamming devices are functioning, so that we students still cannot make use of it in most cases. So annoying. Thus, It is right that “hospitals and universities employee similar jamming practices”.