Boston airport can't block WiFi access from airlines

Who ever said that the airports we in control? They aren't in Boston's Logan airport, where airlines that operate WiFi networks for their customers can continue to operate those networks after the airport lost a battle to shut down a WiFi access point in the Continental area of the large international airport.

This win by Continental may serve as a guiding light of open WiFi access points even beyond airports according to many. The FCC concluded that under a decade-old set of rules governing over-the-air reception devices (OTARD), the world's fifth-largest airline was well within its bounds to provide the free service.

The FCC gave the break here to open-access WiFi, but it had little choice in the matter. FCC commissioner Michael Copps said that the decision "clarifies that American consumers and businesses are free to install Wi-Fi antennas under our OTARD rules -- meaning without seeking approval from their landlords -- just as they are free to install antennas for video programming and other fixed wireless applications."

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