Did he or didn't he? Austrian chancellor's iPhone stirs up controversy

by Chris Ziegler, posted Mar 26th 2008 at 11:59AM

Bitter party rivals in the world's political arenas are always looking for dirt to sling on their opponents, but this is a pretty novel one. Austria's BZÖ is calling for an investigation into chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer's use of an iPhone captured on camera at an EU summit a full frickin' day ahead of its official Austrian release. It looks like the questions center around whether the phone was unlocked; if it was unlocked then whether it was legal or moral to do so; if it wasn't unlocked whether Gusenbauer was getting special treatment; and above all, whether the government footed the bill (he says it was a birthday gift, but yeah, we've heard that line before). Must be nice to live somewhere where this is one of the bigger political rows going on, eh?

[Thanks, Daniel F.]

Filed under: Apple

Tags: alfred gusenbauer, AlfredGusenbauer, apple, austria, chancellor, Culture, gusenbauer, iphone

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

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PhilxBefore @ Mar 26th 2008 12:56PM

Uh, couldn't he have just imported it from elsewhere?

I fail to see the big deal. I must be missing something.

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MadMike @ Mar 26th 2008 1:03PM

So he either got an iPhone from across the border like 3 million other people or Steve Jobs gave him one. WHO CARES? REALLY?

Its almost as completely stupid as that f-ing moron that said George Bush's bullet proof vest was a "Cheating Device" during the debates.

I am all for free speech, but there are some people too f-ing stupid that need to exercise their right to STFU.

Neutral

L @ Mar 26th 2008 1:25PM

"Must be nice to live somewhere where this is one of the bigger political rows going on, eh?"

Haha - there are actually a lot of things more worth talking about here in Austria, but that's the BZ� for you: a tiny party that only manages to get *any* publicity by whining about pointless c*ap like that...

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