Is it the end of Hotspots as we know it? Or just a blip on the radar?
So, We have Acacia Research and Nomadix about to do battle. Well, I don't see the battle, since Nomadix was just a bit late in filing their ridiculous concept patent.
What am I talking about?
Well,
here's the Slashdot on it...
and the
WifiNews article.
So, I do hotspots to some degree, and one of my locations got the "packet" which demands licensing or lawsuit. Since this locations does NOT do re-direction anyway, this is not a problem in this case.
For those who don't want to read the articles above,
Acacia Research has a
patent, this patent is on the re-direction done by almost EVERY hotspot out there. This is not a specific KIND of re-direction folks, but a VERY broad patent on "You ask for one website and the server/router gives you another (ie. login/advertising/CC Payment/disclaimer)"...In other words, Chillispot is not safe, nor is NoCat. But they aren't chasing Chillispot and Nocat, they aren't chasing Linksys and Cisco, they aren't chasing Boingo and Airpath and NetNearU, they are chasing down and demanding of locations and ENDUSERS. $1000 per license (covers 3500 re-directions) and 15cents per re-direct thereafter.
Now, what you see initially is that EVERYONE says it's ridiculous. The patent will never stand, etc. But look up this company, they are RAKING in money because they bought up patents which they say gives them ownership of "every known method of Streaming Video and Audio", and while you laugh, realize the courts have thusfar upheld it and HUNDREDS of Well Known companies have paid the licenses, since Acacia will leap on you like a pitbull and litigate you broke, if you don't.
So, this is a general heads-up for the wireless community who may not know this stuff, and a more specific question as to how the "Hotspot" should be handled. 802.11x? Or do you use the contended re-direction? IF this patent is struck down, Nomadix has another on re-direction waiting in the wings...So we might want to consider finding another verification method which does NOT use re-direction.
James