Starbucks and McDonalds have announced that they are starting to block porn access on WiFi networks. McDonalds implemented web filters earlier this year, and Starbucks will also be controlling Internet content in its coffee shops in the near future after evaluating enterprise web filtering solutions.
McDonalds may not be popular with the American Hospital Association, yet it has opened a number of restaurants inside hospitals in the United States. Other fast food chains such as Chick-fil-A also have outlets inside hospitals. While the food being served may not be particularly healthy, both of these fast food chains have taken the decision to ensure their WiFi networks do not cause any harm. Both chains now block pornography from being accessed via their WiFi networks. In the case of the latter, for a number of years. McDonalds made the decision to start blocking pornography earlier this year.
McDonalds is the largest fast-food chain in the United States and has attracted criticism for the lack of a web filter to prevent the accessing of pornography via its WiFi networks. McDonalds is popular with children, yet until earlier this year the corporation had failed to block porn access on Wifi networks in its restaurants.
Internet Safety Organizations Increase Pressure to Block Porn Access on WiFi Networks
Enough is Enough, an Internet safety organization, reached out to the CEO of McDonalds in the spring of 2014 and asked the restaurant chain to block porn with WiFi filters. When Enough is Enough launched its National Porn Free Wi-Fi campaign in the fall of 2014, the organization gathered more than 50,000 signatures to its petition. More than 75 partner organisations also backed the campaign to get McDonalds and Starbucks to lead the way by implementing web filtering solutions to block the accessing of pornography.
McDonalds responded by exploring some of the various options available, and early in 2016 the fast food chain implemented a web filtering solution to block porn access on Wifi networks in its restaurants.
Enough is Enough, together with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, also petitioned Starbucks and requested the coffee shop chain also starts to filter the Internet in its coffee shops. Just a couple of days after McDonalds made the announcement that its restaurants are now porn-free zones, Starbucks said it too is now looking at various solutions that will prevent pornography from being accessed via the WiFi networks in its coffee houses.
President of Enough is Enough, Donna Rice Hughes, welcomed the news saying “We’re proud of Starbucks and McDonalds for stepping up to the plate.” Rice Hughes points out that “Internet pornography is a public health crisis.” She explained that “parents need to know which family restaurants are safe from online threats.”
Public WiFi hotspots are increasingly being used to access pornography and share illegal child pornography. The anonymity offered by public WiFi hotspots has led to a surge in the use of these locations to access, share, and download illegal material. Only by blocking access to illegal and inappropriate material can restaurants and other providers of free public WiFi ensure minors are protected.
Now that two major chains have announced that they have taken the decision to block porn access on WiFi networks, other smaller chains are expected to follow, including fast food outlets in hospitals and other hospital cafeterias that offer free WiFi access.
