Los Angeles (January 6, 2012) -- Screen Actors Guild today released the following statement:
Earlier today the lawsuit against IMDb.com and its parent company was amended to identify the plaintiff by her name, Huang Hoang. Screen Actors Guild applauds the determination and courage of the plaintiff in standing up to fight the unfair and abusive practice of publishing actors’ private information online without their consent.
“Ms. Hoang has shown great courage in stepping forward and pursuing her claims despite efforts to deter her by demanding she be publicly identified. Thousands of actors have had their careers harmed by the unauthorized publication of their birthdates by IMDb against their wishes. Screen Actors Guild and its members stand in support of efforts to curtail this invasion of privacy done to enhance a corporate balance sheet.
“An actor's job is to portray someone else. When personal information, like a birthdate, is used to limit who an actor can portray, creativity is harmed, and the actor is harmed. Making a living as a middle-class, working actor is already extraordinarily difficult. IMDb’s misguided insistence on publishing private personal information like birthdates makes it even harder.
“All of us have a right to privacy and when working actors who are not famous celebrities have their personal details published online without their permission, a line has been crossed. Just like everyone has the right to control what information about them is shared on social media, actors and other industry talent should have the same right to control how their personal information is used. This is even more true when the companies using the information are making money by doing so as IMDb does.”
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About SAG
Screen Actors Guild is the nation's largest labor union representing working actors. Established in 1933, SAG has a rich history in the American labor movement, from standing up to studios to break long-term engagement contracts in the 1940s to fighting for artists' rights amid the digital revolution sweeping the entertainment industry in the 21st century. With 20 Branches nationwide, SAG represents more than 125,000 actors who work in film and digital motion pictures and television programs, commercials, video games, corporate/educational, Internet and all new media formats. The Guild exists to enhance actors' working conditions, compensation and benefits and to be a powerful, unified voice on behalf of artists' rights. SAG is a proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Headquartered in Los Angeles, you can visit SAG online at SAG.org.
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Contact: Pamela Greenwalt
SAG Communications Executive Director
Cell (323) 440-2892
pgreenwalt@sag.org
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