New California law could censor IMDb

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by JozefK, Sep 27, 2016.

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  1. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    New California IMDb Age Law Probably Unconstitutional, Experts Say »

    A new California law that will require IMDb to omit or remove age and birth date from an actor’s profile upon request is likely unconstitutional, a half-dozen lawyers and law professors have told The Hollywood Reporter in the two days since its enactment, citing First Amendment concerns.

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    “The statute seems to me of the most dubious constitutionality,” Abrams told THR in an exclusive interview. “Birth dates are facts. It's hard to see how the government, consistently with the First Amendment‎, can bar or punish their disclosure.”

    The legislation, which SAG-AFTRA facilitated and which the governor signed Saturday after overwhelming passage in both houses of the legislature, is intended to reduce age discrimination in the entertainment industry. Currently, birth dates are prominently displayed on IMDb profiles, which the union says has led to casting directors and their staffs unavoidably taking note of – and sometimes acting on – the information. Discrimination against persons over 40 based on their age is unlawful under federal and state law, but age bias remains a problem for actors, among others, and not just those who are over 40.​
     
  2. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    I've seen people try to shave as much as ten years off of their age! Riz Story (born Rodolpho Ivan Zahler in 1966) of the bands Silvia, Anyone and Infinika has been editing his own Wikipedia article claiming he was born in 1976, and dismissing the 1986 album Self Portrait he recorded as "RIZ" in 1986 at age 19 as something he recorded as a "child." That's the most egregious claim I think I've ever seen.
     
    Simon A likes this.
  3. Yeah I saw that and I understand why they want to do it. However, they should also not allow ANYONE's birth date to be online.
     
    rmath84 likes this.
  4. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    I like to tell people I'm 20 years older than I actually am, so they can be impressed with how young I look. Pass it on and maybe we'll get a trend going.
     
    SandAndGlass and Holy Diver like this.
  5. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    Madness.
     
    John Moschella likes this.
  6. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Acting is one of the few occupations where it is explicitly legal to discriminate based on sex, age and race, simply because of the need to cast people for specific roles.

     
    izgoblin likes this.
  7. Rufus McDufus

    Rufus McDufus Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    But why go after IMDb? Surely all sites which publish an actors age would have to comply wouldn't they? What about actors who have already consented to publishing their age, or in fact edited the page themselves (e.g. Wikipedia?). This just seems a strange story. It's not difficult to take an approximate guess at someone's age from just looking at them. Will photos or moving images be banned too? Why not just tackle the actual problem as opposed to one of the side effects of it.
     
  8. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    How about noting their cosmetic surgeries, lift heels, toupees, etc. ? ;)
     
    S. P. Honeybunch likes this.
  9. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    "If it wasn't for that &*%$# IMDB page, I could still be going out for those 'thirty-something' roles!"

    [​IMG]
     
  10. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Couldn't you post a bigger picture? :(



    ;)
     
  11. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    We're all about hi-rez here.
     
  12. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    I say if they don't like it, to dam bad.
     
  13. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    The movie industry casting agents, don't rely on IMDB, they have professional information from SAG/AFTRA and other talent agencies.

    These days, YouTube videos carry more weight than IMDB ever did.
     
  14. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    No. Don't do it.
     
  15. Dude111

    Dude111 An Awesome Dude

    Location:
    US
    Indeed......I love IMDB!!
     
    MikaelaArsenault and shokhead like this.
  16. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    It's so huge now. Another Time Warner hors d'oeuvres.
     
  17. showtaper

    showtaper Concert Hoarding Bastard

    Just when you think that California might have run out of stupid..........
     
  18. DesertChaos

    DesertChaos Forum Resident

    If this is the kind of tripe that the CA legislature has time to get into then it's pretty sad. Time to cut, and deep.
     
  19. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    California needs a law banning more pointless laws. I'm moving to Indiana. I read that they just adopted daylight savings time ten years ago!
     
    klockwerk likes this.
  20. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    Jerry brown baby!:mad:
     
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