No Kinkiness:

The middle of a bustling Kinko’s computer center might not seem like the ideal place to browse Playboy’s Web site or look up information on how to make illegal drugs.

But the Ventura-based chain of copy and business services shops is apparently concerned that customers of its new Internet access service might use it to visit Web sites that most people would surely prefer to view in private.

Last week, Kinko’s announced that it had installed SurfWatch Internet filtering software on thousands of computers at its 830 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Kinko’s began rolling out Internet access service in August, allowing customers to cruise the Web at the same PCs where they can type resumes and print documents.

“We’re trying to keep a reasonable business environment,” said Jay Friedland, co-founder of SurfWatch, the Los Altos, Calif.-based division of Spyglass. “There is a small but real percentage of inappropriate or potentially offensive material, and they want to limit access to that.”

Jim Winsayer, Kinko’s manager of research and development, said the filtering software wasn’t installed for customers who surf the Web as much as for those who might happen to see something offensive on a computer being used by someone else.