Marriott fined $600k for deliberately JAMMING guests' Wi-Fi hotspots

Marriott has been fined $600,000 by the FCC for paralyzing guests' personal Wi-Fi hotspots, forcing them to use the hotel giant's expensive network instead.
The US watchdog today said the Marriott Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee, used equipment to illegally boot hotel and convention center guests off their own networks, which were typically smartphone hotspots.
Meanwhile, Marriott managers encouraged everyone to connect to the hotel's Wi-Fi network, which cost from $250 to $1,000 to access.
According to the commission, the Gaylord Opryland installed an Allot NetEnforcer, and configured it to continually flood the surrounding ether with de-authentication packets. An attacker does not have to know a Wi-Fi network's password, or be authenticated in any way, to send a successful de-auth packet. All devices and computers that receive the management frame over the air are instructed to disassociate from their network.
Essentially, it was virtually impossible to use Wi-Fi, unless it was the Marriott's.
"It is unacceptable for any hotel to intentionally disable personal hotspots while also charging consumers and small businesses high fees to use the hotel’s own Wi-Fi network," said FCC enforcement bureau chief Travis LeBlanc.
"This practice puts consumers in the untenable position of either paying twice for the same service or forgoing internet access altogether."
The fine is part of a consent decree [PDF] Marriott has signed in order to end the watchdog's investigation into Wi-Fi jamming. Marriott has also agreed to send a report on its Wi-Fi "containment functionality" tools to the commission.
Allott Communications, which makes the NetEnforcer hardware used by Marriott, did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. It markets the devices as "purpose-built appliances for monitoring and managing data traffic on enterprise, cloud and broadband service provider networks."
Allott has boasted that it provides network services to the Gaylord Opryland as well Gaylord hotels in Florida, Texas and Maryland.
"In each of the facilities, dedicated internet service is provided by a Gigabit fiber-optic backbone with 100 megabit edge connections for meeting rooms, ballrooms and exhibit hall space," the company writes [PDF].
"Each resort provides an always-up installation that serves thousands of internet users every day of the year."
Thousands of users ... willing or not, it seems.