Friday, October 28, 2011
SAG and AFTRA Condemn IMDb Revealing Performers' Ages
Hollywood Reporter: The Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA struck out at IMDb and its owner Amazon.com on Thursday, condemning their practice of revealing ages of performers without the actor or actresses' permission -- and then refusing to delete or change it even when that person requests them to do so.According to a press release issued by the guilds, there were recent behind the scenes talks with IMDb about this practice that involved SAG, AFTRA and other unnamed guilds, but those talks have now broken down.
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4 comments:
I understand the plaintiff's argument, but I wonder how true it proves - how many people are actually denied jobs based on a small difference in age?
That said, I don't know what IMDB's agreements with these organizations are, but it seems like a private corporation can publish any information due to freedom of speech. If the agreement to which the plaintiff presumably agreed when signing up for IMDB pro allowed IMDB to publish her age, then she really has no case. If the union and IMDB are in another sort of agreement where the union gives IMDB information, then the union has leverage, but otherwise IMDB should do what it wants.
While I agree that a person's age is public information and can easily be found out with a little bit of research, I feel that unless the release of the age is explicitly laid out in the TOS agreed to upon signing up, the company should be responsible (and, honestly, decent enough) for removing the age upon request. Just as Facebook users can opt into more stringent security settings (as long as you know to do so and know where to change the setting), IMDb is only creating a controversy, alienating the unions and making enemies in the industry upon which it makes its living. Regardless of whether or not there is actual age discrimination from the display, it is incredibly poor business practice to ignore the requests of your subscribing customers, especially if it opens you up to controversy, hostility and potential legal action.
This is yet another reality of the communication age. If you really want to find information out about someone you can. I understand the idea that putting it all in one place could be detrimental but I think we are at a place technologically where this is unavoidable. I am also curious if this actress knows for a fact she is being discriminated against by age or if this is just a precautionary measure on her part. IMDB has been around for years and I have not heard a complaint like this before. So why now? I don't think the Unions will win this one.
What shocked me in this article was that IMDb would not take down someone's age even if it was requested of them. Isn't IMDb Pro a service that people pay for? And therefore shouldn't people be able to control what personal information is on their IMDb Pro site? Like Daniel, I wonder if that many people are actually affected by this issue. But I do understand the plaintiff's argument, and I think that IMDb is violating her right to privacy by publishing information on the web that she doesn't want out there. I hope that the Unions are able to make their point here. However silly her actual age might seem to some people, it is a big deal to this woman and she should be able to keep it to herself.
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