bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

NEWS reports from Britain claim that  women involved in the ''telephone sex'' business are rushing to order ''new videophones, so punters can watch them perform disgusting live sex  shows''.

  Anyone who can afford to pay the  price (HK$6,000) ''will be able to dial  the sex lines which will put them face  to face with a hooker,'' according to newspaper reports.

  Which makes us wonder just how  long it will take for the debate to heat  up in Hongkong - given that Hongkong Telecom will start selling videophones here later this month.

  Videophones pose some interesting  regulatory questions, not the least of  which would be which department will  look into the videophone-sex issue.

  Precisely how they will be policed is  unclear.

  What is certain is that policing the  videophones, should any authority feel  particularly bothered, will be extremely difficult.

  The Telecommunications Authority certainly doesn't want to do it. ''I  don't think that we're in charge of the  morality of the public,'' a spokesman  said yesterday.

  It's doubtful that the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority is going to be too keen.

  The services may be accessible, but  you could not say they were being ''broadcast''.

  And I'm sure Hongkong Telecom  would probably prefer to pull their own teeth than be lumbered with some  kind of ad hoc  watchdog role, although they would probably pass on complaints.

  It is all very tedious. My suggestion  would be for Government to pretend  this nonsense does not exist.

  Overly anxious parents should keep  the videophone under lock and key.

  The machines being sold in the UK  are developed by GEC-Marconi - the  same standard as those being sold in  Hongkong (MCI in the US will also sell  them, incidentally).

  So punters can get their jollies anyway by simply dialling IDD. (That's the part Hongkong Telecom would love.)       IBM has had more than its fair share of  bad press lately, having been through  the most difficult period in its corporate history. Competitors, of course, would argue that IBM deserve anything they get - they have earned it.

  With axes being wielded throughout its worldwide organisation in an effort to reduce head-count and costs (to  stem the tide of red ink), IBM's clippings file is beginning to look like a never-ending tale of woe.

  In the US at least, the company is  taking out advertisements to try to communicate with its customers directly.

  The company wants to assure customers and stockholders that cost-cutting measures mean that it has become  a lean and responsive giant - not the  great lumbering dolt as has been portrayed in the press.

  Reports said the company had taken out double-page advertisements in  the Wall Street Journal  and New York  Times  to be printed later this week.

  Meanwhile, in Hongkong, IBM has  announced the formation of a local office of the newly-established IBM Consulting Group.

  IBM said market research has concluded that consulting is the fastest growing category of the IT-related service category, with annual growth estimated at 14 to 18 per cent between now  and 1996.

  In terms of revenue, it is estimated  the growth will be from US$11 billion  in 1991 to between $22 billion and $26  billion in 1996.

  The company's director of consulting service for IBM China/Hongkong,  Mr John Boyle, said the group had completed more than 12 engagements  in banking, finance, government and  utilities, even before its formal establishment.

  Maybe they should take out an advertisement.



Keeping on-line sex in line