Welcome to the Hotel ISP. Please Enjoy Your Stay.

Monday, October 25th, 2010 René Hendrikse, Vice President, Northern Europe

At a time when you would think Governments would be looking to stimulate business travel after the recent economic downturn, it seems ridiculous to hear of the situation facing Dutch hotels, specifically relating to their provision of Wi-Fi. As this article says, Dutch hotels may be forced to register as ISPs if they offer internet access to the public.

Much the same thing has been discussed before, particularly in the UK, and I think the reaction of this from the vast majority of people is that it seems an incredibly heavy-handed and short-sighted way of cracking down on copyright infringement. Let’s be honest – given the choice between becoming an ISP and monitoring all the usage on their connection, or simply turning off the Wi-Fi, what are Dutch hotels going to do?

I fear what this approach may mean for Dutch hotels, and business travel in the country generally, if the legislation is adopted. The Netherlands is a major international transport hub, as well as an important business venue in itself. Connectivity has become critical to modern business; the moment we start to let clumsy or unnecessary legislation get in the way of creating an environment conducive to business and economic recovery then something is clearly wrong.

I completely understand the end towards which these changes are aiming – clearly, copyright infringement is a crime– but the means are all wrong. There must be better ways of detecting and punishing copyright infringement without punishing honest business travellers, surely?

Tags: Europe, hospitality, wi-fi access