The Korea Times today makes an assertion that might seem obvious to some readers: adoption of new technology is driven significantly by pornography. It goes back to the adoption of the Internet -- in Korea, the article says, people began noting the speed of their Internet access in the early '90s, when video of a former Miss Korea having sex with her manager appeared online.

South Korea's top three mobile carriers earned about 200 billion Won (just over $200 million) from adult content in 2004 alone -- and those numbers are expected to explode in the future. "The most reliable revenue stream at the wireless phone-based Internet appears to be obscene contents -- both hardcore and softcore," says Hwang Jin-ku of the Korea Institute for Youth Development.

Hwang says the adoption of advanced mobile broadband technologies like WiBro and HSDPA will be driven significantly by adult content -- and he, for one, is far from thrilled with the idea. "We should prepare for the new era in which our youth might be defenseless when exposed to the bothersome contents," he says.