Legal experts blast new California law targeting the Internet Movie Database

Legal critics are blasting a new California law that would force the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) to remove an actor or actress’s date of birth from his or her profile as a violation of the website’s free-speech rights, The Hollywood Reporter (THR) said in a story published Tuesday.

The law, signed into effect by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday, enjoyed “overwhelming” support in the state’s legislature, THR said. The bill, lobbied for by the powerful Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), was couched as an effort to protect older performers from age discrimination in Hollywood.

“The law applies to entertainment database sites that allow paid subscribers to post résumés, headshots or other information for prospective employers,” THR explained. “Only a paying subscriber can make a removal or omission request, but the statute also encompasses any ’companion’ websites under common control with the paid site — for example, IMDb as well as IMDb Pro.”

“The statute seems to me of the most dubious constitutionality,” veteran free-speech advocate and civil-liberties attorney Floyd Abrams told THR in an interview. “Birth dates are facts. It’s hard to see how the government, consistently with the First Amendment‎, can bar or punish their disclosure.”

THR reported that only one of the seven independent legal experts whom they contacted for comment thought the law would narrowly survive a challenge in court.

Of course, the whole issue could be rendered moot if IMDb merely tweaks its business model by “simply canceling the IMDb Pro contract” of performers who don’t want their ages listed, Deadline Hollywood reported on Saturday.