Starbucks will block porn from Wi-Fi service next year

Starbucks recently announced that their Wi-Fi will soon block all users from watching pornography. After coming under scrutiny for failing to block porn sites back in 2016, the coffee chain has found a medium that will block explicit content.

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Two years ago, Starbucks promised to join fellow chains such as Subway and McDonald’s in the quest to find a porn-blocking service. However, while other chains adapted to customers’ concerns, Starbucks didn’t uphold their end of the bargain.

However, come 2019, people will not be able to access porn sites while using the Starbucks Wi-Fi. According to Business Insider, the coffee chain has not yet disclosed any details about which services they have decided to go with.

“To ensure the Third Place remains safe and welcoming to all, we have identified a solution to prevent this content from being viewed within our stores,” a Starbucks representative says. “We will begin introducing it to our US locations in 2019.”  

Enough Is Enough, an internet-safety advocacy group, started a petition to get Starbucks to adhere to a porn-free environment. Over 26,000 signatures ultimately pushed the chain to comply.

However, Enough Is Enough made campaigns that targeted both the coffee chain and McDonald’s back in 2014 as well. 

“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 says in a statement.

Prior to this announcement, the act of browsing porn sites was already a breach of the company’s Wi-Fi agreement. However, the absence of blockers made the action still possible.

What do you think about Starbucks’ latest announcement? Actually, wait, never mind—we don’t really want to know.