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Article: Austrian city's cell phone crackdown reflects a growing European backlash
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- April 18, 2008
- Author:
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The world has never been more connected, but in some corners, it's developing a real hang-up over the ubiquitous cell phone.
Taking a cue from France's national railway, which offers phone-free "zen zones" on high-speed trains, Austria's second-largest city this week began ordering public transit commuters to keep their phones on silent mode.
The crackdown in the southern city of Graz has triggered a noisy debate between advocates of free speech and people who say they're simply fed up with having to listen to annoying ring tones and intrusive cell phone chatter.
"I know I insulted the cell phone goddess a little," Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl said.
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