I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but the relevant statute is section 333 of the Communications Act of 1934. Here it is in its entirety:
No person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications of any station licensed or authorized by or under this Act or operated by the United States Government. This begs the question, just what is meant by interference? They did not bother to define it in the act. That got me looking for how the FCC defines interference. Different parts of CFR 47 define it slightly differently, but all the definitions I’ve found that refer to interfering with transmissions refers to “active” interference. This suggests to me that passive measures are acceptable. I recall a ruling by the FCC some years ago (I’m thinking 2007-ish) that Ok’d RF blocking paint in a movie theater, but I can’t turn up anything in Goggle. Chuck Enfield Manager, Wireless Systems & Engineering Telecommunications & Networking Services The Pennsylvania State University 110H, USB2, UP, PA 16802 ph: 814.863.8715 fx: 814.865.3988 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Philippe Hanset Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2015 10:35 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] 6-month follow-up to Marriott/FCC Wifi blocking stories Lee, I just read your Open Letter. Good work. Thank you. One question that I have for future reference is: “What constitutes blocking?” You mention White Noise or Frame manipulation… What if building owners have frequency blocking material as part of the design of the building. This could be considered passive blocking as opposed to white noise or frame manipulation but it is blocking regardless. We might want to know the FCC point of view on this before we create “wave free classrooms”! Best, Philippe Philippe Hanset www.eduriam.us <http://www.eduriam.us> On Aug 20, 2015, at 10:16 AM, Lee H Badman <lhbad...@syr.edu <mailto:lhbad...@syr.edu> > wrote: I'm trying to get the FCC's attention on this: https://wirednot.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/an-open-letter-to-the-fcc/-Lee Lee H. Badman Network Architect/Wireless TME ITS, Syracuse University 315.443.3003 _____ From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv <WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> > on behalf of Mike King <m...@mpking.com <mailto:m...@mpking.com> > Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2015 9:01 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] 6-month follow-up to Marriott/FCC Wifi blocking stories I know it's two weeks later, but Smart Holdings just got smacked by the FCC for the same thing. (Which is probably why you were asking) http://gizmodo.com/its-about-damn-time-fcc-says-convention-centers-cant-b-1724805719?dfp_pp_ab=on <http://gizmodo.com/its-about-damn-time-fcc-says-convention-centers-cant-b-1724805719?dfp_pp_ab=on&dfp_desktop_three=off&utm_expid=66866090-43.E9Bjfd6NTuSlXJewu2e_Ig.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F> &dfp_desktop_three=off&utm_expid=66866090-43.E9Bjfd6NTuSlXJewu2e_Ig.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F On Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 10:30 AM, Bob Brown <bbr...@nww.com <mailto:bbr...@nww.com> > wrote: I’m looking to follow up on a series of stories we ran in late 2014/early 2015 <http://www.networkworld.com/article/2879142/wireless/fcc-still-has-ton-of-explaining-to-do-on-wi-fi-blocking-rules.html> on the Marriott Wifi blocking issue. To refresh, the FCC fined Marriott for blocking a Wifi hotspot (or hotspots) at one of its hotel convention centers. The incident sparked quite a bit of discussion on this listserv, as university/college network pros wondered whether their own Wifi management/security practices would now be considered legit and whether the products they were using could still be used. *I’ve followed up with Marriott, whose CIO kicked me over to public relations, which naturally declined to comment. *The hospitality industry trade group had said at the time of the FCC/Marriott decisions that it was going to launch a cybersecurity task force to study this topic further, but they haven’t responded to my inquiries, so I’m not sure whether such a task force was formed and if so, whether it has accomplished anything. *The FCC has been unresponsive on this matter entirely. *I’ve contacted WLAN vendors that I spoke to for some of the original articles to see if anything has changed on their end since the start of the year and they haven’t had much to say so far. So, based on all this, I don’t have much of an update to write about at this point…perhaps exactly what these parties would like. But, I’m also wondering if any of you who were trying to figure out earlier this year what the FCC decision/Marriott response meant to you, have taken any new approaches to managing/security Wifi on your campuses. If so, and you’d be willing to share your story, please touch base (or feel free to share with the listserv if appropriate). 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