Free Wi-Fi and Tenants’ Rights
An excellent Bloomberg article today looks at the battle over airport Wi-Fi currently raging at Boston's Logan airport. It's a simple enough issue: the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which charges airport visitors for Wi-Fi access, wants Continental Airlines to remove the free Wi-Fi services it offers to frequent flyers in its airport lounge.
According to the Bloomberg article, Continental is now asking federal regulators to get involved, saying the case could grant landlords of office buildings, stadiums and airports nationwide the right to decide who can and can't operate wireless networks on their property. "You shouldn't have a situation where the neighborhood bully gets to kick everyone else off the spectrum," says the CTIA's Paul Garnett.
On the other hand, Massport says this isn't about tenants' rights or about free vs. for-fee wireless — they're using Wi-Fi to track baggage and transmit key data, they say, and they don't want interference. "If we have hundreds of Wi-Fi antennas, no one will be able to use that frequency here," says Massport chief legal counsel David Mackey.
But the article quotes Darmouth College professor Hans Brechbuhl as saying, "Is it a land grab or a true security concern? My suspicions are that it is largely a land grab."
The battle is heading to the courts, with both sides disputing issues of jurisdiction — this'll be an interesting one to watch in the coming months.