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A comment on FCC Fines Smart City $750K for Blocking Wi-Fi. Parent comment

Re:FCC Fines Smart City $750K for Blocking Wi-Fi by notacoward on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @01:21PM (#10080571)
In the first paragraph you mention property, but SSIDs aren't property. They don't own "SmartCity" and you don't own "RandomPundit" and I don't own "DidMyResearch" either. The legal point seems to be whether Smart City's actions were limited to the physical space they owned or leased, not what SSIDs were involved.
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Re:FCC Fines Smart City $750K for Blocking Wi-Fi by nickodell on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @03:14PM (#10081468)
>They don't own "SmartCity"

They have a trademark on the phrase "Smart City Networks" within the area of wireless high-speed Internet.

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4801:lwa...

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Re:FCC Fines Smart City $750K for Blocking Wi-Fi by BobLaw on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @04:19PM (#10081874)
You know very well that's not the same thing...
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Re:FCC Fines Smart City $750K for Blocking Wi-Fi by jsprogrammer on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @01:37PM (#10080735)
Yeah, I'm not seeing any evidence that they were the first to be using a particular SSID when they shut them down.

What happens if we both have the same SSID and move into the same area? Who 'owns' that SSID? Smart City gets to just roll into town taking over any SSID it wants?

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Re:FCC Fines Smart City $750K for Blocking Wi-Fi by notacoward on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @02:00PM (#10080924)
As far as I can tell, strongest signal wins (assuming it's within transmit-power limits). Probably just as well, since adjudicating disputes over who owns what SSID in what space would be a total nightmare.
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