Starbucks and McDonald's move to block porn from their Wi-Fi networks

Chris Isidore from CNNMoney reports that anti-pornography groups have succeeded in their efforts to get Starbucks and McDonald's to block porn on the chains' Wi-Fi networks. The anonymity offered by open Wi-Fi increases use of public Wi-Fi for trafficking pornographic content and the sexual solicitation of children. Parents worry that children can come across such content while at one of the restaurants with Wi-Fi, either by accident or if they are trying to access content blocked by filters the parents put on their home networks. According to Donna Rice Hughes, president of Enough is Enough, “parents need to know which family restaurants are safe from online threats”.

Barna Group Study: Teens and Young Adults Use Porn More than Anyone Else

Barna Group interviewed American teens, young adults and older adults about their views on and use of pornography. Among many notable findings, researchers discovered that teens and young adults have a more cavalier attitude toward porn than adults 25 and older. In addition, young adults ages 18 to 24 seek out and view porn more often than any other generation.

For Parental Controls, iPhones Beat Androids

Brian X. Chen from The New York Times reports that many parents bought smartphones as holiday gifts for their children. In light of the recent revelation in a Colorado high school of the widespread use of vault apps (phone apps with sexting capabilities that disguise themselves as calculators or other tools) and the fact that many parents complaining of exorbitant charges on their cards by in-app purchases or video streaming, he investigated and tested the parental controls of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating systems. His testing resulted that Apple’s parental controls are thorough and parents who want tight control over their children’s activities on smartphones will be better off buying iPhones for the family. The Android system, on the other hand, could only accomplish a few family-related tasks.

USCCB Issues Pastoral Response to Pornography

At their November 2015 General Assembly, the U.S. Catholic Bishops approved the formal statement "Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography" with an almost unanimous vote.

Instagram Tightens Guidelines to Curb Pornography and Harassment

Wall Street Journal is reporting that the photo- and video-sharing app unveiled a more-detailed standard for images, aimed at curbing pornography and harassment. The number of Instagram’s monthly users has exploded from 30 million to 300 million since Facebook bought the app. With that growth have come questions around how the site should police bullying and potentially offensive content. Instagram doesn’t screen images before posting, but reviews those that prompt complaints from users, and removes those that violate its guidelines.

Microsoft launches tool to rid Internet of child porn

CNN Money is reporting that the biggest social media sites have been using Microsoft technology to combat child pornography. Now, Microsoft is giving that tool away-- for free.

Online porn to boom in next five years, thanks to smartphone growth: Study

India Today is reporting that thanks to the growth in the smartphone sector, online porn viewing is going to see an explosion in the next five years, a study said. According to Britain-based digital market research specialist firm Juniper Research, online porn watching will grow by nearly 42 per cent in the next five years.

Kids start watching porn at age 6; flirting online at age 8

According to a 2013 study by Bitdefender, kids watch porn online as early as age 6. The age kids start accessing instant messaging and computer games is getting younger and younger; and 2 percent of computer game addicts are five years onld.

Dr. Mary Ann Layden: Porn Culture in the Mobile Age

"Porn Culture in the Mobile Age" by Dr. Mary Ann Layden, PhD. Dr. Layden is a psychotherapist and Director of Education at the Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the Director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program and the Director of the Social Action Committee for Women's Psychological Health.

Corporate Responsibility in the Age of Pornified Culture

Steve Largent, became President and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association, discusses corporate responsibility in the age of pornified culture