Starbucks Blocking Porn on Its Free Wi-Fi Starting Next Year

No one should be watching porn at Starbucks in the first place.

Starbucks wifi
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Image via Getty/Omar Marques

Starbucks wifi

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but starting next year Starbucks is blocking customers from accessing porn sites on its free Wi-Fi.  

You may be asking yourself...who tf watches porn in a Starbucks while the rest of us are busy ordering a seasonal peppermint mocha? You’re not alone.

There are likely more people accessing adult content in Starbucks than there should be—there should be zero people watching porn in Starbucks—but according to BuzzFeed Newswatching porn inside stores was already banned.

The decision follows mounting pressures from the non-profit Enough Is Enough, an organization that lobbies to “make the Internet safer for families and children.” They pushed McDonald's to filter adult content from its Wi-Fi back in 2016. Starbucks previously promised to follow McDonald's example, but up to this point hadn’t followed through. A petition to ban porn on Starbucks' Wi-Fi was created by Enough Is Enough and signed by 26,000 people.

"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 CEO Donna Rice Hughes said in a statement.

Now the coffee chain is fulfilling its promise to block pornographic sites and content. “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,” the company said in a statement. “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.”

In response to the future ban, YouPorn is getting revenge on Starbucks. According to TMZ, the company's vice president sent out a memo to employees, prohibiting them from bringing Starbucks into the office beginning New Year's Day. 

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