The Marriott Hotel group has been fined $600,000 by the FCC for blocking access to personal Wi-Fi hotspots.
The Marriott under scrutiny is the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville, Tennessee which has been fined by the FCC for blocking hotel guest from using their own personal hotspots.
The hotel was found guilty of blocking people from accessing their own internet using a software jam, forcing them to pay to use the hotels service which was upwards of $1,000.
After numerous complaints, the FCC began investigating the hotel and found that guests were being charged anywhere from $250 to $1,000 per device.
“Consumers who purchase cellular data plans should be able to use them without fear that they personal internet connection will be blocked by their hotel or conference center,” stated Travi LeBlanc, chief of the FCC’s enforcement bureau.
Instead of admitting fault however, the Marriott has claimed that their actions were “lawful” and necessary to protect their guests from “rogue wireless hotspots that can cause degraded service, insidious cyber attacks and identity theft.”
Despite claiming that what they did was legal, the Marriott has agreed to pay the $600,000 fine.