[mattkirman]

My interpretation of this was that it was more of a reminder to hotels and convention centres that they're not exempt from the existing regulation. If they're found to be in breach of existing regulations then they will be fined.

[jasonlfunk]

Ah, so it's not new regulation - but clarification on existing?

[HCIdivision17]

Right. A subtle point came up elsewhere in these comments noting that there's an exception for security. The fine point appears to be securing the wired LAN - if you plug in a rogue access point, you can rightly disable it. If someone's wi-fi access point is merely shouting on the airwaves, well, that's what the airwaves are there for and you've no right to block it.

Think of it as the positive side of the Tragedy of the Commons. Normally we complain about someone peeing in the swimming pool, but the FCC holds that such an analogy doesn't make sense for our airwaves.

I actually have no idea where the FCC stands on things like EM anechoic chambers (like Faraday cages). It may or may not be ok to set those up around buildings; likely it requires certification and - if not a lab - some way for 911 and police/fire/rescue to do their jobs unimpeded.

EDIT: Specifically about the newness of the law: turns out a lot of this references The Communications Act of 1934. It could be interesting to see how the philosophy of the radio communication acts are different from our modern interpretation of how to use the higher frequency radio spectrum.

[mattkirman]

I think so. Mariott made a request last year asking for permission to block "rogue" access points from inside their hotels. This is the response.