New California law could censor IMDb

[Fedya]

There's age discrimination in Hollywood, so SAG leaned on state legislators to pass a law to prevent websites from publishing the dates of birth of paying subscribers.

 

Now, IMDb has a subscription thing for those in the industry, IMDb Pro, where they presumably put up their resume. (I'm not in the industry, so I wouldn't pay to subscribe.) Apparently, at least one actress had already sued IMDb (and lost) for publishing her DOB.

 

Obviously, this won't apply to the pages for classic stars who are long since dead, since they're not subscribing to IMDb Pro. But still, it's the thin end of a nasty wedge, and should eventually get declared unconstitutional. (Apparently, the only lawyer who would argue to the Hollywood Reporter that the law will pass constitutional muster is the SAG's lawyer. Quelle surprise.)

 

For the record, I'm a Jack Benny 39-plus.

[MovieMadness]

Only the nuts in California. Meanwhile they force people to categorize themselves by race, and love it.

[TomJH]

For the record, I'm a Jack Benny 39-plus.

 

No offense, but I think of you more as a Charles Coburn 72 plus.

[Movie Collector OH]

There's age discrimination in Hollywood, so SAG leaned on state legislators to pass a law to prevent websites from publishing the dates of birth of paying subscribers.

 

Now, IMDb has a subscription thing for those in the industry, IMDb Pro, where they presumably put up their resume. (I'm not in the industry, so I wouldn't pay to subscribe.) Apparently, at least one actress had already sued IMDb (and lost) for publishing her DOB.

 

Obviously, this won't apply to the pages for classic stars who are long since dead, since they're not subscribing to IMDb Pro. But still, it's the thin end of a nasty wedge, and should eventually get declared unconstitutional. (Apparently, the only lawyer who would argue to the Hollywood Reporter that the law will pass constitutional muster is the SAG's lawyer. Quelle surprise.)

 

For the record, I'm a Jack Benny 39-plus.

 

Thanks for mentioning that.  FWIW I'm an advocate of consumer privacy, but I don't know if this is a good way to go about doing that.  I will take a better look at this tomorrow when I am more awake.  I haven't been a subscriber to IMDBPro either, though that could potentially also affect some of the birthdates as shown on their standard profile pages.  So worst case scenario some high profile talent might start saying they are two years older or two years younger again.

[Sepiatone]

Not movie or industry related, but it somehow fits in with this sort of thing----

 

U-M passed a resolution to allow students to choose which pronoun they wish to be designated with.  Either HE, SHE or ",ZE", the latter supposedly "gender neutral"!

 

???

 

And all this time I foolishly thought parents were shelling out all that tuition money, and students were going into debt with student loans in order to get an education! 

 

 

As for categorizing by race:  Many do so themselves and by choice.   For instance, the first time I saw a CHRIS ROCK act on film, he kept reminding the audience every FIVE MINUTES that he was black  .    "As a BLACK MAN, I...."  "Being a BLACK MAN, I can't..."   "Since I'm a BLACK MAN, I don't..."  and on and on it went.

 

Sepiatone

[Fedya]

In other California legal news, there's a new law that could make celebrity book signings much less common in the state.