“Every view these companies don’t get means they make less money.”

Jason Rivers

Special to Spur Ottawa

Businesses of all sorts offer their patrons free Wi-Fi, but this unrestricted access to the internet fuels a problem that is becoming increasingly evident. The indiscriminate access exposes children of any age to pornography, whether it’s on their own cell phones or the computers of people sitting around them.

Defend Dignity, a Canadian organization that fights sexual exploitation, has a plan to curb these risks. Their “Family-friendly Wi-Fi” letter-writing campaign petitions businesses that offer free Wi-Fi to protect their clients by installing filters.

“We like to look at the upstream issues, the root causes of sexual exploitation,” explains Glendyne Gerrard, Director of Defend Dignity. “If we can tackle those things, then we are going to see it come to an end all that sooner.”

For the past year the campaign targeted Rossann Williams, President of Starbucks Canada. In the summer, Starbucks responded, saying they would begin evaluating the best way to filter their Wi-Fi.

“Every view these companies don’t get means less people get hurt and the cycle is slowed.”

Several competitors already filter their public Wi-Fi, including Tim Hortons, McDonald’s, and some Starbucks chains in other countries. Starbucks Canada did not respond to Spur Ottawa’s requests for comment and it is unclear how they will move forward.

“Anything we can do that protects kids from being unwittingly exposed to porn is a fantastic thing,” states Josh Gilman, a founder of the Ottawa-based anti-porn ministry, Strength to Fight.

Several studies have shown that pornography fuels the demand for paid sex. A number of advocacy groups are pushing governments to study those connections, as well as health risks, and to put stricter controls on pornography consumption.

Some suggest health-warning labels, similar to the ones on cigarettes. Others want stricter age verification or even for pornography to be filtered out unless a customer chooses to opt-in through their internet provider.

Although Motion 47 has not yet come up for debate, it has co-signers from the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, and Elizabeth May.

Earlier this year, Conservative Member of Parliament Arnold Viersen tabled Motion 47, seeking to review the public health effects of “online violent and degrading sexually explicit material on children, women, and men”. Although it has not yet come up for debate, the motion has co-signers from the Liberals, NDP, and Elizabeth May.

“Quite frankly, anything that limits the amount of porn being watched is a great thing, because in the economy of the internet views are money,” says Gilman. “Every view these companies don’t get means they make less money, which means the porn industry makes less money. That means less people get hurt and the cycle is slowed down instead of sped up.”

Speaking of the recent Starbucks announcement, Gilman says he supports changes like this at the corporate level. He says he is watching to see if and how they implement a filter policy.

Children exposed at the library

Another area Gilman wants to see improvements is the Ottawa Public Library. Strength to Fight had a call from a mother concerned about an experience she had at a library branch. A man was watching pornography around children. She alerted library staff, who asked the man to leave, but when he said, “no,” library staff said there was not much else they could do.

Speaking with Spur Ottawa, Danielle McDonald, CEO of the Ottawa Public Library, stated that library computers do have filters for children’s accounts.

“Employees are required to address promptly all situations when customers consider content being viewed in the library as offensive, be it on a public computer or a personal device. Our staff try to work with all customers. Should the customer not comply with the direction of employees, they are advised that they risk of losing library privileges.”

With pornography becoming more commonplace, organizations like Defend Dignity and Strength to Fight encourage parents to raise the issue with business owners anytime they see someone watching pornography around children.