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

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.]

[(Unverified) Posted 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.

[(Unverified) Posted 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.

[(Unverified) Posted 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...

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 4:46PM]

He was given one of the official unlocked phone from Germany last year.

TEG

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 5:58PM]

Wow. Austria really has nothing better to do?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 9:26PM]

They could always get Wonder Woman to use her lasso of truth on him to get him to 'fess up.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 2nd 2008 12:52AM]

Hey, maybe he could just say he was just "pretending" to talk on the phone until it was hooked up the next day.