Starbucks says it's going to block porn on its public WiFi
If you've been pairing your peppermint mocha at Starbucks with a little porn, your time is up.
As of 2019, folks won't be able to use the coffee chain's public WiFI to watch porn, as first reported by Business Insider.
Starbucks has reportedly figured out a way to block people from watching pornographic material using its WiFI, and that it will start rolling it out next year.
"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 and we will begin introducing it to our U.S. locations in 2019," a Starbucks representative told the publisher.
While the company declined to go into further detail on the exact method they'll be using to block any explicit sites, Starbucks' statement reportedly mentioned the testing of various means to avoid accidentally blocking non-porn sites.
The move comes after significant pressure from lobby groups for the chain to block porn sites from the public WiFi.
As pointed out by BI, a petition by anti-porn group Enough Is Enough has garnered over 26,000 signatures, which makes some strong accusations against the company for the potential repercussions of allowing porn to flow free across the public WiFi.
"Starbucks is keeping the doors wide open for convicted sex offenders and patrons to fly under the radar from law enforcement and use free, public WiFi services to view or distribute graphics or obscene pornography, child pornography (an illegal crime), or engage in sexual predation activity," the petition statement reads.
Enough Is Enough has been campaigning for over two years for Starbucks to act, after the company said it would follow in the footsteps of fellow chain McDonald's, which blocked access to porn sites using its WiFi in 2016.
A Starbucks spokesperson told CNN at the time the company would implement the ban if they figured out an effective means to do so, saying, "Once we determine that our customers can access our free Wi-Fi in a way that also doesn't involuntarily block unintended content, we will implement this in our stores."
Well, if Starbucks' new statement is to be believed, the ban will finally roll out next year.
Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.
