Starbucks will block customers in all US stores from using its free Wi-Fi to watch porn next year. The news was first reported by Business Insider.
Watching porn in Starbucks was always banned, but the company did not actively block pornographic content on its in-store Wi-Fi. In a statement on Wednesday, Starbucks said, “While it rarely occurs, the use of Starbucks public Wi-Fi to view illegal or egregious content is not, nor has it ever been permitted. We have identified a solution to prevent this content from being viewed within our stores and we will begin introducing it to our US locations in 2019.”
There are no further details about what this solution is yet, but Starbucks told Business Insider that the company tested multiple tools to prevent accidentally blocking inoffensive websites.
If you were wondering who watches porn at a coffee shop, you aren't alone.
News sites today be like... "Starbucks to start blocking porn" Me like... "what? They haven't already? What reason can there be to surf porn in a coffee franchise with lots of people around?"
TIL that in 2019, Starbucks is planning on blocking porn sites at their stores when using their WiFi. McDonalds started this in 2016. TIAL that people watch porn in public. What the hell is wrong with people? Was bad enough seeing someone watching it while driving once.
Starbucks has been under pressure for years from Enough Is Enough, a Virginia-based nonprofit that advocates for internet safety, to put up content filters on in-store Wi-Fi. In 2016, the organization was able to get McDonald’s to put up content filters across the US. Starbucks promised to ban porn on in-store Wi-Fi the same year, but hadn’t done it. This week, Enough Is Enough called out the coffee chain for not keeping its promise.
"By breaking its commitment, Starbucks is keeping the doors wide open for convicted sex offenders and others to fly under the radar from law enforcement and use free, public Wi-Fi services to access illegal child porn and hard-core pornography," Enough Is Enough said in a statement.
A petition from the organization demanding Starbucks to ban porn from in-store Wi-Fi was signed by more than 26,000 people on Thursday. It said public Wi-Fi networks “are attracting pedophiles and sex offenders” and put children at risk.