College and university chief information officers are unsure of what to make of the Federal Communications Commission’s hard line on blocking personal wireless hot spots and whether it applies to higher education. Nearly a year after the issue emerged, the agency still has yet to clarify. The hotel chain Marriott International in October agreed to pay the F.C.C. a $600,000 penalty to settle a March 2013 case brought to the agency by an angry guest. While staying at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, the guest discovered the hotel was monitoring the wireless network and jamming signals produced by mobile hot spots. Such hot spots, also known as “mi-fi” devices, convert cellular data into a Wi-Fi signal that users can then connect laptops, tablets and other devices for internet access -- thereby avoiding having to pay for hotel Wi-Fi.

February 6, 2015 ・ From Inside Higher Ed