November 30, 2018
The Last Straw - Statement on Starbucks Public Comment to Filter WiFi by Donna Rice Hughes, President and CEO of Enough Is Enough®
Great Falls, VA -- “Enough Is Enough® (EIE) turned up the heat on Starbucks on Monday, November 26 by launching a new petition and media campaign calling out the corporate coffee giant’s failure to follow through on its promise to filter pornography and child sex abuse images from its public WiFi via a statement to CNN in 2016. The statement was in response to EIE’s SAFE WiFi Campaign which began in 2014, calling on Starbucks and McDonald’s to lead corporate America to voluntarily filter inappropriate and illegal content on its public WiFi networks. McDonald’s responded immediately and proactively implemented filters in nearly 14,000 stores nationwide.
The last straw came the summer of 2018, after two-and-a half-years of patiently working behind the scenes to encourage Starbucks to follow throughon its 2016 commitment, there was absolutely no sign of positive action. It became evident that Starbucks had blown off its U.S. based customers, concerned citizens and the media by its failure to keep its word.
Clearly, Starbucks executives did not respond to a carrot approach, and needed a public stick and media poke as earlier this week, the coffee retailer responded to EIE’s recent campaign and once again publicly pledged via businessinsider.com to offer safe WiFi beginning in 2019, yet declined to offer up any details.
While this is a step in the right direction, EIE will continue to engage the media and ask concerned Americans to sign the online petition to keep the pressure on Starbucks until they finally implement filtering in its U.S.-based stores as they have been doing in the U.K for the past six years. It’s time for America’s children and families to enjoy the same peace of mind offered in a safe WiFi environment that Starbucks offers its loyal customer base in other nations. This time around, EIE will hold its applause until Starbucks puts action behind its public commitments.”