由此 - 4 A A ... B B 9. The soliciting and advertising of prostitution is illegal. A prostitute may not solicit in a public place... and a person may not publicly display a sign, which advertises the services of a prostitute... There can be no doubt that the Internet is a place to which the public or a section of the public are entitled or permitted to have access. C D … E 14. Whilst allowing sexual services to be advertised in this way may be safer for the prostitutes and prevent the trade going underground I recognize that Hong Kong society is more conservative than Western society with regard to issues relating to prostitution. There may well be a reluctance to amend the law as in the United Kingdom, the result of which would permit the advertising of sexual services thereby encouraging prostitution on a large scale, in particular considering that many of the prostitutes who work in Hong Kong are from the Mainland and from my experience hearing hundreds of immigration cases, more than often working illegally. Further, although there is no allegation in this case, the fact such web sites may enable crime syndicates to better hide their criminal activities is a strong argument against the amendment of the law and the need for deterrent sentences to prevent proliferation of such sites." F G H I J K L M N O 5. In our view, the judge erred in principle and the sentence which was imposed was manifestly excessive. 6. We agree with the judge that this was a substantial operation which appears to have been returning a handsome profit for the applicant. C D E F G H I J K L M N O If the figures are accurate they show, at a flat rate of $600.00 per P advertisement per month, patronage by some 500 users leaving aside the Q question of whether some advertisers ran more than one advertisement P Q simultaneously. R S R 7. The judge was correct, also, when he recognized that the S circumstances of this offence placed it "... into a very different category to T T those offences involving & vice establishments...". His primary error, U U V V