Starbucks and McDonalds in the US are adding Internet pornography filters to their free WiFi offerings.
The McDonalds announcement follows a campaign by the anti-porn group Enough is Enough (EIE) and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
The Internet filtering has been activated in the majority of McDonalds’s 14,000 outlets in the US.
“McDonald’s is committed to providing a safe environment for our customers . . . ,” a company statement noted.
“We had not heard from our customers that this was an issue, but we saw an opportunity that is consistent with our goal of providing an enjoyable experience for families,” the statement continued.
McDonald’s and Starbucks had already implemented pornography filtering at its locations in the UK.
Enough is Enough and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation appealed to Starbucks to follow McDonald’s lead.
On Friday, Starbucks said it plans to implement filtering in its stores throughout the world, once they are sure that the filtering doesn’t unintentionally block additional content.
Donna Rice Hughes, president of EIE, praised both McDonald’s and Starbucks for recognising pornography as a public health crisis and as a threat to children’s safety.
She said EIE will continue to strongly encourage “other businesses and venues such as hotels, airlines, shopping malls, and libraries to filter pornography and child abuse images on publically available Wi-Fi in order to protect children and families”.
Sources
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News category: World.
