OAK BROOK, Ill. – The “Porn Free WiFi” campaign, organized by the Internet safety group Enough is Enough (EIE), is urging the fast-food and coffee giants to implement Internet filters in their U.S. stores to stop customers from accessing or distributing child pornography and graphic adult pornography via their free Internet connections.
“The “Porn-free WiFi” campaign is not just about protecting our children from viewing hard-core pornography using public hotspots – it’s also about limiting the safe-haven that open WiFi creates for sexual predators,” Donna Rice Hughes, EIE’s CEO, said.
EIE sent letters to McDonald’s and Starbucks in April, applauding both businesses for pro-actively implementing Internet filters in their U.K. stores. In the letters, Hughes urged the two U.S.-based companies to implement the same filters in their stores at home, noting other major chains, like Chick-fil-A and Panera, already filter their free Internet access voluntarily.
“We appreciate your concern and are looking into options for effective filtering in the U.S.,” McDonald’s said in a written response to Hughes. The fast-food chain has continued a dialogue with EIE, Hughes said, but in the seven months since the letter exchange neither McDonald”s nor Starbucks has added filters to their combined 25,000 U.S. stores.