An actress who is, so far, unidentified is suing Amazon.com in federal court for over $1 million in damages for disclosing her age on its Internet Movie Database website, and refusing to remove the reference when she requested, then demanded, that it do so.
She says that IMDb misused her personal information after she signed up for the “industry insider” IMDb Pro service in 2008. Soon she saw that her legal date of birth had appeared on her online acting profile. IMDb refused to remove it.
Now, she says, she is being discriminated against in Hollywood for her age (40), as is its custom. Producers won’t hire her for younger roles, because she’s now regarded as “too old.” Yet she can’t get older roles either, because she still looks much younger. The lawsuit seeks $75,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.
Your Ethics Quiz question of the day:
Did the Internet Movie Data Base do anything unethical by publishing the actress’s real age without her permission?
What is the Internet Movie Database, anyway? Is it media? A reference site? The actress, described only a performer of Asian heritage with an Anglicized last name, is apparently not a big star but a recognizable one. Do, and should, celebrities have a right to keep basic information like their ages secret? Did the fact that the IMDb got the information from her application as a consumer make it wrong to reveal her age? What if it just prompted the service to check other sources?
There is another ethical issue raised by this situation: the actress wanted her age secret so she could lie about it to employers. Does Amazon/IMDb have an obligation to facilitate her deception?
My conclusion, while retaining sympathy for the actress, is that she’s shooting at the wrong villain. If there is age discrimination in Hollywood, confront it: a number shouldn’t disqualify her from any roles at all. I am not saying that fighting such a long-standing tradition in the show business culture isn’t a daunting task, but that’s the real problem, not a web service that conveys information about movies and movie stars by publishing facts.
Ethics Alarms 
There is another ethical issue raised by this situation: the actress wanted her age secret so she could lie about it to employers.
I thought she wanted it secret so it wouldn’t be brought up as a factor. She wanted to be judged on whether she fit a role by if she looks like it fits, not if her actual (and irrelevant) age says it fits.
Of course, if she actually lies about her age, throw that out the window.
Good point…I believe actors/agents are asked about their age if it isn’t generally known, and lying is part of the system…usually not done directly, but by creating the impression that a performer is younger than he or she is. I had a close friend from high school, a successful actor on TV , movies and Broadway, who was terrified that someone might find out that he was as old as I was (older, actually). So is someone who works to maintain an industry impression that she is younger than she is lying?
Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. She’s in the business, they all lie all the time, and if she can pull off a younger role, she’d be hired for it. If her resume is the only representation of herself she has, she should get another agent. Or publish more photos of her fabulously young-looking self.
Really, who cares about the fortunes of this actress because of insider Hollywood crap?
Child actors who have problems later, that’s another issue, and one I care about. This one isn’t worth writing or thinking about. There are too many other real issues to concern oneself with.
Would it be appropriate to guess who might the person be suing? I have my thoughts…
Is it just a comical coincidence that this is the same discussion as the one about the human genome? Age, like many genetic and cultural attributes, can often be guessed with a fair accuracy by anone who’s been living in this world for a while. I don’t think my mother should be able to forbid me from revealing my age just because it will make everyone else sure that she’s older than I am. (For an entertaining examination of this dilemma, see Gilbert & Sullivan’s IOLANTHE.)
I doubt it’s a coincidence. Most days the posts seem to link up somehow. My fault—once I get thinking along a particular path, related stories seem the most interesting.
I have a friend, a successful Hollywood character actor. We worked together onstage in summer repertory, we attended Univ of MT at the same time, his parents and brother are friends of mine. You’ve seen him as the over-the-top newspaper editor in the “Spiderman” movies. He does not give a poop who knows he is 56…it’s in newspaper bios often enough.
Perhaps it is different with women, though increasingly they do not seem to care. They are gettingc more realistic about it. My question about the particular woman in question: has her place of birth appeared widely in the media? If so, anybody who wants can look up her birth certificate…it’s a matter of public record, and she doesn’t have a case.
Ancient Wisdom: “Age” is a number; “old” is an attitude.
Forgot to mention: I’m 23 years older than he — I’ll be 80 next year!
You brats are all just kids.
Satchel Paige: “How old would you be, if you didn’t know how old you was?”
Great man, great pitcher, great quote.
Julio Franco and George Blanda approve this quote.