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It's not greed! It's a WiFi security threat, this Boston Airport thing...

What does wireless Internet cost? It depends, obviously (duh!) on how many "emplanements" you cater for. And if you find a way around that, it's "a security risk." Clearly absurd; but Boston "Massport" (Massachusetts Airport) may have missed a trick, even so.

The best summary of this story is that by Roy Mark at Internet News: "Boston's Logan International Airport wants Continental Airlines to take down an antenna it uses to provide free Wi-Fi access in the airline's frequent flier lounge. Safety, the airport claims, is the issue. Try rank greed, says Continental."

The story (reference below) makes it patently, painfully obvious that security isn't what Boston's airport authorities care about.

Just conceivably, they could argue that they need to be able to track everybody who logged onto the Internet at the airport. In a world where there are no cellphone networks, that might even be an argument worth taking seriously.

But anybody can share an airport WiFi system, and it's actually quite possible to do it involuntarily. Log on with an insecure laptop with peer to peer networking switched on, and everybody else can share your link, without being traceable.

What Boston's authorities should, of course, be pointing out, is that they have to manage channel conflict. There are, really, only three non-overlapping WiFi channels in the North American area; channels 0,6, and 11 (Europeans have channel 13 as well). Having a "rogue" access point like the one operated by Continental Airlines, could conceivably require negotiations.

Unfortunately, that debate can happen without the need for money to change hands. And it's perfectly clear that this is the only concern of the authorities there.

Most comments seem to accept this. Associated Press has picked this up, and is quoting consultant Craig Mathias saying: "They clearly don't want the competition."

This history of wireless at Logan airport is worth following up: as Glenn Fleischman notes in his insider view of the saga in WNN (WiFi Network News). Fleischman also references an earlier Forbes article. It seems that several people have tried to start hotspots at the airport, and have either failed, or pulled out.