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Hungary To Use Facial Recognition to Suppress Pride March (theguardian.com) 208

Hungary's Parliament not only voted to ban Pride events. They also voted to "allow authorities to use facial recognition software to identify attenders and potentially fine them," reports the Guardian. [The nationwide legislation] amends the country's law on assembly to make it an offence to hold or attend events that violate Hungary's contentious "child protection" legislation, which bars any "depiction or promotion" of homosexuality to minors under the age of 18. The legislation was condemned by Amnesty International, which described it as the latest in a series of discriminatory measures the Hungarian authorities have taken against LGBTQ+ people...

Organisers said they planned to go ahead with the march in Budapest, despite the law's stipulation that those who attend a prohibited event could face fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints [£425 or $549 U.S. dollars].

Hungary To Use Facial Recognition to Suppress Pride March

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  • by jonwil ( 467024 ) on Sunday March 23, 2025 @12:10AM (#65253249)

    Do the people of Hungary actually support the government (on this issue or in general) or is Hungary one of those countries that holds pretend elections to mask the fact that it's actually a dictatorship?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Do the people of the US actually support the government (on the issue of removing Social Security, destroying education, leaving the world stage and fighting wars with Canada and the EU) or is the US one of those countries that uses various tricks to steer the votes in the right direction, or outright buy votes when necessary, masking the fact that it is actually an oligarchic state where the popular opinion has very little impact on the government?

    • by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Sunday March 23, 2025 @12:38AM (#65253293) Journal
      Hungary is kind of like America, with some wild divisions between Trump and the D team.

      In Hungary the division appears to be stronger, with some actual Nazi supporters [jpost.com]. The situation is complicated because some people viewed Nazis positively as. saving the country from Soviets. But also, a lot of Hungarians supported (and support) anti-Jewish policies. Most Jews left Hungary, though.

      As far as dictatorship, the current prime minister has been there since 2010, but he's also won the elections. In 2022 OSCE heavily monitored the elections, so it seems they were probably within the range of fair.
    • Do the people of Hungary actually support the government (on this issue or in general) or is Hungary one of those countries that holds pretend elections to mask the fact that it's actually a dictatorship?

      False dichotomy. Both are true. Lots of dictatorships are quite popular with their population. The dictators know do care about popular opinion because they want to avoid a revolution. The big problem with dictatorships is the suppression of unpopular opinions which challenge wrong or inaccurate consensuses. Freedom of expression can be a short term pain but is important to keep society functioning properly in the long term. Also, without fair media access, so that the opposition has a real problem putting

      • >"In a sense that's become the problem in the US where large blocks of right wing media control access to the majority of the population because, whilst there are alternatives to Fox News and co, many people never see those alternatives."

        I agree that is a problem. The vast majority of major news outlets are left wing and narrate in lock-step. Which, itself is another problem. But that doesn't negate that half the country concentrates its media consumption on that small part that isn't left-wing, and s

    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Sunday March 23, 2025 @04:05AM (#65253477)

      People in Hungary support the belief of their government. The key word is belief. The mark of a dictatorship is strong control of the media. Hungary's government grew into what it was today in a far slower pace than what is going on in America, but they retain power thanks to strong state partisan control over all narratives. They dropped from from 40th to 85th in freedom of the press ranking in the past 10 years as well as having dismantled the power of the judicial system removing checks and balances against the government. When people don't know any better, they support their government.

      Sound familiar?

  • What's scary is (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
    There's people on this forum right here who would be in support of this. They won't say it out loud they keep to themselves when they aren't in safe spaces but I know they're out there. Every now and then they let slip how they really feel. You don't usually notice it because they get modded down and their comments basically disappear but I've seen them and I know they're here.

    It's like the people who when you tell them that trans people without gender-affirming care have a 50% suicide rate they think t
    • It's like the people who when you tell them that trans people without gender-affirming care have a 50% suicide rate they think that it's better to just let them kill themselves.

      Trans tend to have mental health issues which predispose them to higher than background rate of suicide. There is tenuous at best evidence of linkages between sex change and impact on suicide prevention. The 50% rate is absurd on its face and completely unmoored from reality not unlike most of the crazy shit you post here.

      • Trans tend to have mental health issues which predispose them to higher than background rate of suicide.

        And you think that is unconnected to what they go through growing up like that?

        There is tenuous at best evidence of linkages between sex change and impact on suicide prevention.

        You're not wrong here.

        The 50% rate is absurd on its face and completely unmoored from reality not unlike most of the crazy shit you post here.

        It's not far, as long as you caveat it.
        Ideation and attempts, not success.

        I honestly don't know how I feel about gender affirming care for minors... but what I do know is that there is a cost in fucking lives to passing laws that are arguably trying to remove these kids from existence, and that has been measured.
        They are cruelly bullied, and their suicide rate is through the roof, almost certainly as a c

        • While I don't have any particular opinion on the main issue either way, this is a little bit of a case of playing tricks with statistics.

          "It's not far, as long as you caveat it. Ideation and attempts, not success"

          Since there can't be a suicide attempt without ideation, and there can't be actual suicide without an attempt, what you are really saying here is that the 50% rate is actually measuring ideation. Therefore it is actuall measuring ideation - the parent poster claiming a 50% suicide rate is misleadi

          • While I don't have any particular opinion on the main issue either way, this is a little bit of a case of playing tricks with statistics.

            No, it's not.
            But I have a feeling you're about to.

            Since there can't be a suicide attempt without ideation, and there can't be actual suicide without an attempt, what you are really saying here is that the 50% rate is actually measuring ideation. Therefore it is actuall measuring ideation - the parent poster claiming a 50% suicide rate is misleading.

            Parent was misleading. Hence the point about the caveats.
            Reducing it to ideation is also wrong, since some percentage of it are worse than that- attempts.
            You have just done exactly what you've accused me of doing. Rather, what we have both done, is not played "tricks with statistics", we have given a quantity, and an unknown breakdown of what exactly that quantity includes- because neither of us know. We could probably look and fine out.

            It is also meaningless without a baseline to compare against. If the 50% suicide ideation rate is correct, then how does it compare againt the rate for all people of a similar age/profile?

            I think it's aroun

            • Morning,

              I apologise if I came across as being argumentative. It wasn't my intention. I genuinely don't have an opinion on the subject, I was just annoying by whagt appear to be a fairly blatant use of bad statistics (on this site that sort of thing would usually take up about 75% of any thread).

              For what it's worth, I'm not the original poster. I probably shouldn't have got invovled in the conversation, but you're holding my post to account for what the parent poster said, and getting a bit personal about it

              • Almost impossible to do on a subject like this. For any question you ask you get abot 5 different contradictory answers, and so all you can do is choose which one you "trust" the most. At best all you do is end up picking the one that reinforces what you already thought.

                Fair.

                Let's put it this way.
                If you don't think kids like this are bullied more than others,
                If you don't think kids like this are rejected by their parents more than others,
                If you don't think bullied kids commit suicide at a higher rate,
                If you don't think kids who are rejected by their parents commit suicide at a higher rate,
                If you don't think kids being the target of a movement to illegitimize, socially and legally, aspects of themselves that they feel they have no control over commit suicide at a hig

        • >"And you think that is unconnected to what they go through growing up like that?"

          I can't speak for that poster. But I will say absolutely. Very little connection.

          >"I honestly don't know how I feel about gender affirming care for minors...

          It is actually more like gender non-affirming "care", but I am completely against it for minors. Adults can do what they like. The vast majority of gender-confused minors completely resolve without any intervention once puberty is complete.

          >"what I do know is t

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Europe won't fall just because the US does. At this point, sad to say, it's looking like it will be up to the EU and China to contain the US and limit the damage, at least for the next 4 years. Then hope for a reset.

    • >"There's people on this forum right here who would be in support of this."

      Well, doesn't include me. I think the idea of having "Pride" in sexual orientation is ridiculous. Especially since it is just a mostly uncontrollable trait. It would be like having "Pride" in having a certain skin color or height. But banning associations, free speech, or protests is absolutely abhorrent. It has no place in a free society, unless it is promoting [actual] violence.

      >"It's like the people who when you tell th

      • I didn't find it ridiculous.

        If you're part of a minority facing discrimination then it's a pretty obvious statement of your right to exist.

        And the thing is gender dysphoria is a recognized condition. You can't make it go away by criticizing it. While there are a lot of subtle points and an ethical minefield, you're attitude is about as useless as the one you decry.

        • >I didn't find it ["Pride" parades] ridiculous. If you're part of a minority facing discrimination

          We are all a minority of one and there is all kinds of rational and irrational discrimination. That doesn't mean one needs "Pride" in something.

          >"then it's a pretty obvious statement of your right to exist."

          That is such hyperbole. "Right to exist" was never in doubt. It is a trigger phrase to dismiss any criticism of behavior.

          >"And the thing is gender dysphoria is a recognized condition."

          Indeed it

          • We are all a minority of one

            You're being a tool.

            and there is all kinds of rational and irrational discrimination. That doesn't mean one needs "Pride" in something.

            There has historically been and still is a substantial amount of irrational discrimination against LGBTQ people. Don't try and prevaricate your way around that.

            That is such hyperbole. "Right to exist" was never in doubt.

            Don't rewrite history. This is patently false.

            Where have I criticized gender dysphoria or people with it? What I criticize are th

    • by kick6 ( 1081615 )

      It's like the people who when you tell them that trans people without gender-affirming care have a 50% suicide rate they think that it's better to just let them kill themselves.

      How far does that rate drop post-op?

    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      trans people without gender-affirming care have a 50% suicide rate

      50%? We've told you a million times: Don't exaggerate.

  • by vistic ( 556838 ) on Sunday March 23, 2025 @12:57AM (#65253311)

    1. Print out Orbans face.
    2. Make two holes for eyes.
    3. Make two holes for some string.
    4. Make Orban the happiest most out loud and proud gay rights marcher ever.

  • Emboldened by the US (Score:3, Interesting)

    by battingly ( 5065477 ) on Sunday March 23, 2025 @12:59AM (#65253315)

    Right-wing leaders around the world are looking to the US and feeling emboldened to take authoritarian steps like this. In fact the US is probably just months away from looking a lot like Hungary.

    • There's a lot of bad things to be said about the US, but this isn't one of them. Hungary was on an anti-LGBTQ+ warpath since before America showed the world how truly stupid it can be. The actual law introduced by Hungary was done early during Biden's term at a time where much of the world thought America came to its senses and the whole shenanigans of the previous Trump presidency was over for good.

      The USA is irrelevant to Hungary.

      • Hungary was on an anti-LGBTQ+ warpath since before America showed the world how truly stupid it can be.

        If anything, the playbook on all this anti-LGBTQ+ stuff was written by Russia. In June 2012, Moscow courts enacted a hundred-year ban on gay pride parades.

        Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if some of the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bills that a few red states have passed still have some of the original Cyrillic. For the record, Russia's national equivalent "Don't Say Gay" law passed in 2013.

      • I wouldn't say irrelevant, there has always been a strong US presence in Budapest. But the hungarian homohobic movement came straight from the Russians.
  • by Lavandera ( 7308312 ) on Sunday March 23, 2025 @02:23AM (#65253389)

    This is not really about LGBT.

    Orban built hate against LGBT and now is using this hate to introduce laws that will allow him persecute political opposition even more.

  • by Budenny ( 888916 ) on Sunday March 23, 2025 @06:34AM (#65253609)

    I no longer understand why people are holding Pride demonstrations. Back in the day before equality there was a reason, but now it seems to consist of a bunch of people in fetish gear celebrating, to who isn't clear, and why isn't clear, their sexual preferences. Do whatever you want, but why hold public celebrations of whatever it is you do.

    When it was a matter of agitating for gay rights, then it was different. But back then of course the demos were dignified affairs with a political aim in view.

    I don't have enough information to form a view on the situation in Hungary. The reaction seems a bit extreme.

  • by sajavete ( 5054387 ) on Sunday March 23, 2025 @07:09AM (#65253639)
    ... push those plummeting birth rates right back up, huh.
  • To show that shithead Orban, where he can stick his cameras.
  • Good luck with that. Facial recognition doesn't work if you're wearing a gimp mask.

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