Starbucks To Block Porn Sites For Wi-Fi Users

SEATTLE, WA - You don't have to look far to find a story about someone behaving lewdly in a Starbucks. A Boston-area man caught masturbating in front of a woman, or a New Jersey cop caught doing, well, the same thing.

Starbucks will now take a step to abate some of that behavior. The company will block porn sites for people using the free in-store Wi-Fi. The company will roll out content-blocking tools in 2019, according to Business Insider.

The Seattle-based coffee giant lags behind other chains like McDonald's in blocking explicit content, according to Business Insider. Starbucks has faced pressure from groups like Enough Is Enough, which started an online petition to push the company to block porn.

"Apparently, Starbucks cares more about providing paper straws to protect the environment than protecting kids and patrons on its public WiFi!" the group wrote on the petition website, which had attracted almost 27,000 supporters.

People watching porn in public is a serious problem, whether it's at Starbucks, on a city bus, or at your local library. It qualifies as sexual harassment, and is probably illegal, depending on where you live.

Surprisingly (or perhaps not) porn websites are responding to Starbucks by offering content that is "appropriate" for use in public.

"To comply with Starbucks’ new policy, we’ve created an option that allow fans to still enjoy great content to which they are accustomed, but that is appropriate for consumption in public places," PornHub vice president Corey Price said on Thursday.

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