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1.  

   No Subject Given

   

   Loraan, Sep 9th, 2004 @ 10:18am

   
   

   My best interpretation of the situation is that you can regulate what people attach to your network, but you can't regulate what people carry around. My IT department can prohibit me from bringing in an access point and attaching it to their network, but they (technically) can't prohibit me from bringing one in and setting it on my desk, but not plugging it in. The failure in the UT case is that the students in question are apparently using a third-party ISP, so they're never attached to the UT network. I'd say, no dice.

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2.  

   A school can do it

   

   Arantius, Sep 10th, 2004 @ 9:19am

   
   

   Even if it is a public school, you're there voluntarily. They can set whatever rules they want (basically), and you have to follow them. Or go to a different school.
   When I was in college, it was mandatory to purchase a meal plan from the meal service provider that was in every eating establishment on campus if you lived there.
   This is the same as not allowing kids to have air conditioners or hot plates in their dorm. It's not regulating unlicensed spectrum.

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3.  

   Re: No Subject Given

   

   Cris Daniluk, Sep 10th, 2004 @ 3:36pm

   
   

   Your IT department certainly can prohibit you from putting an AP on your desk. They (by proxy) own the desk, the building, and the land it sits on.
   
   So does UT.
   
   And the FCC ruling is totally inapplicable to this situation. The rules are different for an airport, as they are for public transportation, and thus a public facility of which any American, and many people who aren't, may use its commercial services, free from any form of "discrimination" (as long as you're white and didn't buy your ticket with cash). The rules are totally different on private property, with UT's campus is.
   
   Taking federal and state funds is not a qualification for being a public facility! So, UT has a perfectly valid case... as long as the students are broadcasting from THEIR property. If the students put the broadcast stations just outside of campus, though... hint hint
   

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