HabeasCorpus sez, “MassPort, which runs Boston’s Logan Airport, has been smacked down by the FCC for its policy forbidding any wifi service that competes with its own lame, overpriced offering. Kudos to Continental Airlines for challenging this stupid, stupid policy.”
The FCC ruled against the Massachusetts Port Authority, or Massport, which ordered airlines in 2005 to unplug their wireless and wireline high-speed Internet services in their lounges and instead use the airport’s fee-based system.
“Today’s decision ensures that the Wi-Fi bands remain free and open to travelers, who can make productive use of their time while waiting to catch their next flight in an airport,” FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said in a statement.
(Thanks, HabeasCorpus!)
Update: Glenn sez, “It’s a simple measure of the control freakery at Massport – home to the airport with the laxest pre-9/11 security even in that laughable pre-9/11 period – that they have spent the time, money, and effort on this issue, when they were clearly wrong. The FCC didn’t merely accept Continental’s petition, but they humiliated Massport over and over again by explaining in great length exactly how wrong they were.”