Welcome to the strangest controversy of the moment. If you don’t know what the IMDB is, you probably aren’t reading this right now, but the movie database is under fire from Hollywood for something that seems rather absurd.
A bunch of Hollywood guilds, led by the WGA, are leading a charge against IMDB, saying that their posting of actual ages of the various crews and casts of films will lead to age discrimination in an industry based on youth. IMDB’s response?
IMDb is committed to being the most comprehensive source of film, TV and celebrity information…Customers of IMDb trust that when they use our website, they are receiving comprehensive and accurate biographical information. When we are made aware of information that can be verified as inaccurate, we remove from IMDb, as nothing is more important to us than customer trust.
I don’t believe IMDB is in the wrong here, as I don’t see this as a privacy violation for people who have put themselves in the public eye. I will admit though, often being quite surprised when I see how old actors really are, and I could see how this could affect casting decisions for actors who aren’t as well known as others.
Another problem is that IMDB often gets their info wrong, and the birthdate might not even be accurate some of the time. It’s notoriously impossible to get IMDB to change anything in a remotely timely manner, which I imagine would get pretty frustrating for some.
Which side of this issue do you land on?
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